


Wrong Mask

by TypicalCampbell



Series: Wrong Mask, and Associated Sinning [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Abusive Parents, Aged-Up Character(s), Angst, Eating Disorders, Epic Bromance, F/M, Identity Reveal, Time Travel, Unrequited Love, love quadralateral
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-05-26 00:33:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 36,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6216505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TypicalCampbell/pseuds/TypicalCampbell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adrien Agreste is living a lie. Or Adrien Agreste is a living lie, depending on your perspective. <br/>Everyone sees the model, the perfect son, the genius. No one ever looks deep enough to see the real him (one hundred and fifty pounds of leather,sexy and ... puns?)</p><p>But all of that is going to change soon, with a little help from his bro Nino.</p><p>{All Characters are aged up to seventeen}</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bro time

“Ahh, dude, I don’t even know why I still play B-Ball with you. You’re way too good” Nino bemoaned loudly as he watched Adrien shoot a flawless three pointer.

 

“I mean, I do have a hoop  _ in my bedroom _ ” Nino could literally hear the grin on  Adrien’s face. “I don’t know what you expected.”

 

“Well, yeah, but I have Super Smash bros in my room and I’m not a pro Smash player..” The blond model shrugged, and jogged over to retrieve the orange ball. Nino braced himself. Adrien did the same thing every time. Sure enough, the ball came hurtling across the court. He managed to get his arms around the ball just before it struck him in the stomach.   _ My boy really doesn’t know his own strength. _

 

“Crap. dude. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.”  The blond model shot his friend an abashed look, but nino waved it away with a good-natured smirk. 

 

“No prob, bro. I’m all good.”

 

“Oh.. well in that case, you’re on Hor. Three pointer from here.”  Nino moved to the spot Adrien pointed out. A moment to settle himself, andddd.  Swish. They turned to each other, the disbelief on Adrien’s face mirrored on his own. Once the shock wore off, Nino was sprinting around pumping his arm in victory.

 

“Alright, alright, bubbles. Your shot.”

 

“Oh we’re trash talking now? That part of the game has begun?” Nino raised his eyebrows, and received a cheshire grin in return. “Fine. Fine. Get ready for the schooling of a lifetime”  He dribbled twice,  then took off towards the hoop at a run.  _ Come on ups. Give. Me. Some. AIR.   _ Nino launched off the floor with all his might, just managing to slip his hand over the lip with the ball. He knew Adrien could match the dunk easily. Jumping was Adrien’s  _ game. _ But he had a plan.

 

“Beat that, Goldilocks.”

 

“With pleasure.” Adrien palmed the ball, and stretched. Then he took off, running at a ridiculous pace.

 

Just as Adrien’s feet were about to leave the ground, Nino blurted out “So how’s the Ladybug thing going?” nonchalantly, as if he wasn’t fully aware of the impact his word would have.  It worked, of course. Adrien did a funny little spasm, and ended up slamming the ball against the rim. It bounced away violently, and the lithe teen barely stuck his landing. Judging by the red flush creeping up his flawless skin, and the accompanying outraged expression, Monsieur Agreste was fully aware of Nino’s intentions.

 

“Oh that was a foul play, dude.” Nino shook his head.

 

“Dude, you totally started the dirty tactics. I’m just playing the game.”

 

“Seriously, that took a lot of  _ balls.   _ I have half a mind to take you to  _ court.” _  Something in Nino’s head clicked, and he groaned audibly.

 

“Noooo, dude those are horrible. No puns.”

 

“These are Revenge Puns, bubble boy. Get  _ dunked  _ on.”  Adrien stalked over to the ball, and bounced it back at his friend. Nino was laughing riotously. He could barely believe this was the same boy who’d walked into his classroom two years ago with no friends. Nino felt like a proud mother hen. He’d taken the naive model under his wing, and now look at them. Trash-talking, hanging out together… It was like a whole new Adrien. Aside from the terrible jokes, of course. Nino didn’t want any of the credit for that.

 

“Seriously, though. Any progress on the Ladybug front?” Nino asked again, and he shot an easy shot off the foul line.

 

“Nah, man. I told you. She still thinks Secret means Secret from everyone. Even  _ me.” _ Adrien responded dejectedly.  Nino felt for him. If he was in that situation, he’d be pretty shot up too. Luckily, he already had his own hot girlfriend. 

 

“Dude, it’s definitely time to look elsewhere. Even if it does seem like she likes you sometimes, it’s pretty obvs that it’s not going anywhere unless she wants it to. By all accounts it’s been long enough. I mean damn, two years of saving Paris together, she’s had plenty of time to think about it.”  Adrien hummed back, discontented. Not like he didn’t have a point, the green eyed boy supposed.  “Maybe Lady’s a lesbian?” Nino speculated.  Adrien shot up straight so fast his spine clicked, basketball in his hands forgotten

 

_ How have I not even considered that idea? _  He voiced the thought aloud.

 

“I dunno, dude. Maybe you’re kind of dumb?” The look of mock outrage flashed across Adriens statuesque features.  _ Oh now It’s ON. _

 

“You want it that way, El Nino? Fine, PLAGG! CLAWS OUT!”  The schreeching kwami was dragged across the court, his half eaten slice of camembert making disgusting streaks. A green flash lit up the room, and Nino’s eyes widened with glee. No matter how many times he saw it, he couldn’t get used to the sight, and the fact that his best friend was  _ Chat fucking Noir. _

 

He still felt like the way he’d figured out his friend’s secret sounded crazy lame, and he’d made Adrien promise repeatedly that they’d come up with a much cooler, more dramatic story at some point.  He wanted like, Being saved by Chat in an epic fight against that Moth guy (or whatever) when Adrien’s mask slipped off, or like, Walking in on him mid-transformation as an Akuma attacked the school.

 

In reality, they’d been chilling on his couch listening to some beats when he saw Adrien’s computer background of Chat and Ladybug, and noticed how insanely alike they looked.. (He’d seen Chat before, but usually he was a tad panicked)  Ten minutes later, all the superhero tropes lined up in his head. Never around during disasters, looks pretty much exactly like the hero, never has enough sleep, acts really fake around everyone (well, everyone but Nino, but their brodom was special).

 

He’d literally just blurted out “Dude, are you Chat Noir??” right then and there. Adrien looked up from bobbing his head, casually answered “Yes”, and went right back to bumping along to Nino’s sequenced beats. 

 

After a minute of Nino staring at him like he’d  just grown a new head, Adrien bust out laughing. He reached over and paused the music, and the two of them spent hours just talking about it. The superhero seemed every ounce as excited as his best friend was. “Someone finally sees  _ me _ ”  He rejoiced quietly as Nino was leaving.

 

Since that day, Nino considered himself somewhere between Alfred and… Whoever that nerdy white kid from static shock was. Chat/Adrien could count on him to evacuate people whenever an akuma was around, he scanned news channels and his girlfriend’s blog for news, he set up convenient excuses for his friend to duck out of class. In return, Adrien gave him all of the Superhero info he could handle, even introducing him to his greedy little cat thing. It was great.

  
  
  


While Nino stood there reminiscing, Adrien was doing his “magical girl transformation” as the other boy had immediately dubbed it.  Once the outfit was on, he sprinted around behind the hoop, free ran up the wall higher than a normal human was capable, and pushed off backwards.  A simple flip in midair, and he’d slammed the ball home.

 

“Should I put you down for Hor?” The black-clad teen asked, pronouncing it like a dirty word.

 

“Haha, yeah very funny, ya cheater.” Nino punched him on the arm. Seconds later, The little black cat fairy was zipping back to bed grumbling about abusing powers. 

 

  
A few minutes and letters later, Nino conceded the game. They decided to chill for a bit,  perched on the lip of the half-pipe. Nino cracked a couple of his signature illegal mexican Energy Drinks, and passed one over.  

 

“Enjoy, brother. I know you’ve got patrol later.” A grateful Adrien tapped their cans together in a mock-toast.

 

“So, If you think the LB thing is a non-starter, what do I do?”

 

“Dude, you could just try casually dating someone. There are plenty of girls who’d love to get some Adrien Action  at school. Or Chat action” He added as an afterthought.

 

“Like who, Chloe?” They cringed in unison.

 

“Nah, bro, like Marinette. She’s hot, single, friends with my girl, and WAYYYY into you.”

 

“Neen, you think I don’t know that?” He scoffed  lightly “I’m a model, man. I know how girls act when they crush on me” Nino nodded his head in acknowledgement of the point. Admittedly, he was a bit confused, seeing as how Adrien never really acknowledged  the black-haired designer’s reactions to him. Alya had assumed it was out of obliviousness, but he’d insisted it was politeness. Proper manners had been ground into Adrien’s psyche from a young age, after all.

 

“So, why not go for it?”

 

“I don’t know man. I really respect her, she’s great and all,. and you aren't wrong about the hotness. I mean damn.  But…” Adrien got a bit quieter. “She doesn’t see  _ me. _ She’s great around everyone else, I’ve seen it. But whenever I’m around she just kind of… Fangirls. I can’t get to know her, and she’s always going to think I’m some kind of model-slash-saint  because of a brand name and good genetics.”

 

“Just seduce her as Chat then!” Nino replied with a grin. Adrien  spit out his energy drink laughing. 

 

“...Not that the idea doesn’t have ...um. Merit, but don’t you think that would be dangerous?”

 

“Nah, dude. Just gotta be sly. If no one sees, it’s not dangerous at all.”

  
“Well, there goes the romantic candle light dinners. ...Also, somehow I don’t see Marinette as the sneaking around type..


	2. Love(less?) Patrol Alpha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patrolling the night has never been quite so.. normal?
> 
> strike that, I guess it has
> 
> short chapter because I wanted to post another one before i passed out enjoy

  
  


For the third time in six days, Marinette was sneaking out of her bedroom to see a boy. Not that she was… You know what, never mind. She didn’t even know why she thought about it that way. It wasn’t like it was your usual teenage rendezvous.  This was her job. Her secret, can’t-tell-anyone-she knows-especially-not-her-parents job, assigned to her by an ancient fairy. Her run around-doing-parkour-on-the-rooftops-of-Paris-with-a-hot-boy-in-a-leather-catsuit job….

 

Marinette shook her head. Ok, maybe it wasn’t  _ usual,  _ or what most people think of when they say ‘rendezvous’, but when she put it that way it did sound way more interesting than it was. To be honest, patrol wasn’t even all that necessary. They’d never actually run into any akuma at night. An occasional petty criminal, a mugger here or there, all knocked out with a light tap from Chats baton and delivered to Roger down at the police station. That was about it.

 

Neither of them ever brought it up, though. SHe liked to think Chat didn’t mention it for the same reason she didn’t. It was so freeing, bounding through the night air over the Seine, or flying over the Champs-Elysees. She really didn’t mind  losing three or four hours of sleep for that kind of freedom. 

 

Also (God help her) she actually enjoyed the alley cat’s company on the nights they patrolled together. His flirting and punning had been irritating at first, but it’d grown endearing. He was a steady presence in her life. She could always rely on him to respond with a joke and a flirty smile, no matter the situation. She’d seen him flirt with her as a squid akuma dragged him into the Seine (He hit it in the beak with Cataclysm and she grabbed the small anchor necklace from around it’s neck and smashed it), as he sprinted off with only seconds left before his Miraculous ran out, and in countless other ridiculously impractical situations. He insisted that if she ever saw fit to share her real name with her, he’d have her halfway to the fanciest restaurant in Paris before the transformation wore off (his words, not hers).

 

He couldn’t possibly mean anything by it, of course, but it was certainly doing wonders for her self-esteem. What girl wouldn’t enjoy having her own gallant superhero partner, constantly telling her how wonderful and flawless she was?  None. 

 

Marinette was dragged out of her self reflection by her kwami floating across the room. 

 

“Hey, Marinette. It’s time to go meet Chat, isn’t it?” She glanced down at her watch, and cursed.

 

“Merde, sorry Tiki, I got a bit distracted. Spots On!”

  
  
  


Ten minutes later, she was bounding across the Parisian skyline towards a familiar spot of darkness blocking out the lights from the city. Chat was leaning against the  parapets of Notre Dame, a slight smile gracing his lips. 

 

“Bonjour, mon petit minou.” At her greeting, his green eyes came alive and the smile split into a broad grin. “How’s the patrol so far?”

 

“Ah, My Lady, infinitely better now that you’ve arrived. All’s well so far.”

 

“Oh? Done much patrolling without me?” Her voice sounded a bit funny. She treasured their limited time together, and for some reason the idea that he started without her struck a chord.

 

“Ah, well, I was thinking, you know how we each have areas we sweep on the way home?”

 

“Yeah Chat?”

 

“Well, I thought that if I finished mine before hand, I wouldn’t have to bother on the way home. Thus giving me more time to patrol with you..” He finished with a somewhat nervous smile. Her eyes narrowed. Don’t get her wrong, she was a bit touched, but she couldn’t let him see too much. It would only feed the flirtatious flames if he knew she enjoyed patrol as much as she did.

 

“Oh? Planning on following me home like a lost kitten, Chat?

 

“ Only if you have cream and a warm pillow for me” He purred in a low tone.  _ Chat’s stepping up his game tonight, that was actually kind of—  wait, no it wasn’t hot, shut up Marinette. _

 

“Well, I might have cream, and my pillows are quite nice, but if I’m adopting a stray, I’ll have to take him to the vet to get shots.. And get Fixed.”

  
  


Chat visibly winced at the word fixed. He couldn’t tell if that was meant as banter or a warning.  Either way, Plagg’s catlike sensibilities made the word ‘fixed’ a taboo for him.

 

“...you okay there champ?” Chat tuned back into the conversation. “You know, I  _ was  _ kidding, I’m pretty sure there isn’t a Vet in the world that would take a cat your size, especially not for— “ He cut the red and black figure off.

 

“If you don’t mind, milady, could you avoid using that word in that .. particular context? Apparently my kwami isn’t a fan.” Comprehension dawned on her face. She’d never actually thought Chat’s kwami, but it sense. Cat powers, cat kwami. Cat  kwami, aversion to the idea of having his…  Well, he’d probably have an aversion to that either way.

 

“Sorry Chat, didn’t even think of that. My kwami has the same reaction to the word insecticide” She shuddered delicately. “Apparently, even when I’m the one saying it.” Chat flashed her a quick smile.

 

“No worries, My Lady. No harm done.  Now, what say we get to that patrol? I’ll race you to the Eiffel Tower!” And like that he was off, the awkward moment abandoned on the church roof.  She envied his unflappable calm, if nothing else.

  
  
Adrien flopped down on his bed at two AM, exhausted but happy.  It had been a good night, full of their usual banter and competitiveness but nothing more. The usual dance of flirting and rebuffing. “You know what?” He thought just as he drifted off.  “I think I’m okay with that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do the thing. With the comments and the critiquing, maybe even the kudos if you think it deserves it.


	3. I Will Wait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nino eats paper, and pisses off teachers
> 
> Marinette tries to ask Adrien out, but he beats her to the punch. 
> 
> When she finally does ask, she doesn't get the answer she expected

  


N- Dude, this has to be the most boring freaking lesson, ever

 

A- I don’t know about that, I kind of like Parametric Equations.

 

N- seriously?

 

A-Yeah, I really like physics.

 

A- Besides, you just spend the whole time checking out girls

 

N- One lady in particular, thanks

 

A- well, yeah, while she’s around…

 

N- Hey, I might look but I never touch, or flirt. I’m technically in the clear

 

A- I know literally nothing about dating, so i’ll take your word on that

  


In hindsight, it was really really stupid to write notes back and forth when they both had really nice (and lockable) smartphones, but passing notes in class was so much more traditional. Adrien really should’ve expected the next part, which was equally traditional really.

 

“Nino, Adrien. If you’re going to pass notes in class,I'm sure you don't mind sharing their contents with the class...” Madame Mendeleiev’s voice rang out from her desk. She was glaring at them both as if they’d just kicked a puppy.

 

“No can do, Madame!” Nino replies cheerfully. “This here is top secret.”

 

She snatched the note up off the desk and starts to unfold it. Adrien shot his friend a panicked look. Nino’d referred to him as Chat several times during the conversation, and they’d discussed his potential love life at great length. If that got read out loud in here it would all be screwed to hell.

 

Nino thought fast. Like, lightning speed fast. With reflexes born out of years of gaming, he snatched the note back from the shocked physics teacher, balled it up and popped it into his mouth. He’d have to take the hit on this one.  As the teacher started yelling, he fist bumped Adrien under the desk.

 

“I’ve never seen such a blatant display of insubordination. How dare you, young man! I’ll have you in detention for week for thi—“

 

“No, how dare you?” Both boys (along with the entire rest of the class) swivel to look at the origin of the voice. Marinette stood at her desk, looking fierce. “Demanding a student stand up and read a private note to the entire class? Do you have any idea how cruel and invasive that is?” Eyes wide, Adrien watched her confront the hawk-like teacher.

 

“Dude, I told you she was awesome.” Nino muttered out of the corner of his mouth. Adrien found himself nodding.

 

“Miss Cheng, You are out of line. Detention!”

 

“No, you’re out of line, dude.” Nino called out. Apparently Alix, Juleka and Alya agreed, because they added objections of their own. The sheer level of insubordination seemed to burn up what was left of the teacher’s short fuse. She grabbed her yard stick and stalked angrily out the door, spouting ‘stupid children’ and ‘I never!’s.  They all sat in silence for a moment while everyone absorbed the  fact that their last class before lunch was essentially cancelled.  Gradually, everyone seemed to break up into their own little cliques. Nino swivelled around to talk to his girl, dragging his best friend around at the same time.

 

“Yo, Marinette, that was wild!” Nino held a hand up, and the black haired girl high fived him.

 

“SHe just pisses me off so much sometimes! I mean, what gives her the right to violate someone’s privacy like that!!”

 

“Man, you don’t have to tell me twice.”

 

“So, anyway, what _was_ that note?” Alya asked. Her reporter’s tendencies got the better of her sometimes.

 

“Sorry, babe. Top Secret means TOP SECRET.” Alya gave him a look but didn’t pry further.

 

“Soooo… Adrien, Marinette had something she’s been meaning to ask you..” The brown-haired girl said abruptly. Adrien turned to glare at his best friend. All of a sudden, the topic of their conversation last night seemed suspicious. Nino shot him an apologetic look.

 

“UH-h… No I-I.. I mean” Marinette’s earlier confidence fled with each word.

 

“One moment ladies.” Adrien dragged Nino into a huddle.

 

 _“Nino, man, seriously? What, alya asked you to ‘put a word in’ or something?”_ He hissed under his breath. Adrien absolutely hated being asked out in public. He couldn’t stand turning people down, especially when he actually kind of liked them.

 

 _“I tried to tell her that the direct approach was a bad idea earlier, but you know how she is.”_  Adrien schooled his expression back into a pleasant smile, and turned back to the ladies. It seemed like Marinette had the same idea, seeing as she had her books up on the table, in the middle of her own whispered conversation. All he could catch was “Girl, you have to go for it! What’s the worst that could happen?” And  suddenly Marinette was back.

 

“A-Adrien, I was wondering-”

 

“Hey, Marinette. How about you.. Uh, Come down to the coffee shop around the corner with me during lunch, and we’ll talk there. Bit more private?” He tried to phrase it as neutrally as he could, but the growing smile on Alya’s face suggested he didn’t do that well.

 

“Um.. uh.. I mean sure, that sounds great!” Marinette responded

 

“Yo, that sounds like a great idea, we can all go together, It’ll be fun.” Nino said, trying to find a way out for his bro. Alya had put him on the spot, pushing Mari to confront him in class, and he could practically feel the waves of discomfort and anxiety coming off of him. Adrien had some serious problems saying no to people, courtesy of his father. That was the only reason Chloe thought Adrien actually liked her. His boy just… suffered through things, because he didn’t want to disappoint anyone.

 

Alya shot her boyfriend a dirty look. _What is he doing, he knows how hard I’ve been trying to get Mari to do this!_

 

“Actually, uh, I was hoping you could stay  here and uh.. Help me with that project, Nino!” She said, forcefully. Nino rolled his eyes, and looked to Adrien, who merely shrugged.

 

The lunch bell rang, and Adrien grabbed his things, lingering at the doorway for Marinette. With one last shove from her best friend, the shy black haired girl followed him.

 

“Where do you think you’re going?!” Alya exclaimed, grabbing the small ginger girl who had been about to sneak out after them.

 

“Let go of me!” She squirmed as Alya guided her back into the classroom.

 

“NO! No way in hell I’m letting you or Chloe try to ruin this. Go sit down.” The meek girl cowered back towards her seat, but Queen bitch herself stood up.

 

“Not like it’s going to matter anyway! Not like _Marinette_ has a chance with my Adrien. We just wanted to go watch her get shot down.” Nino tuned out the arguing, choosing instead to slip on his headphones and text his boy.

  


N- Dude, you sure you’ll be good? I know you don’t do so well with turning people down..”

 

A- Actually, I wasn’t really planning to turn her down directly. I had a better idea.

 

N- Oh? Gonna go for it?

 

A- Well… not as such. I mean, you weren’t wrong last night, she is awesome.

 

A- She just… well.. It’s hard to explain. I’ll tell you how it goes later.

  
  


The walk was torture for Marinette. It took all of her focus not to walk into anything or trip over her own feet, and as a result she didn’t actually talk much. Adrien didn’t say much either, but that was probably a good thing. It helped her stay upright. Stupid beautiful boy, with his stupid angelic voice. She almost grumbled the words aloud, catching herself just in time.

 

“So… design anything good lately?” Adrien led in with.

 

“Yeah actually! I made this really really cool sundress last week, I can’t wait for it to get warm enough to wear outside..” She responded without thinking. Adrien could actually see the moment when her brain caught up with her mouth.  “Uh.. I mean, my clothes aren’t really.. I-i mean, I’m sure you model nicer clothes all the time. I’m sure it wouldn’t compare…”

 

“Aww, you don’t want me to model your sundress for you?” He winked, and after a moment she started giggling. He laughed along, relieved.  For a brief moment, he got to see the same Marinette that everyone else saw, and it was addictive.  Sure, her cheeks were still a little red, and her pupils just a little dilated from fear, but the laugh was genuine.

 

Unfortunately, it seemed the breakthrough was short-lived. Once they arrived at the cafe, Marinette was quiet again.  They went up and ordered (He got a salad with light dressing and a Mocha Latte, she got a sandwich and green tea) and Adrien pulled her to his favorite booth, right by the window.

  


“So.. Uh, what Alya was talking about was.. Uh.”

 

“Marinette, it’s ok. You don’t have to-”

 

“Doyouwannagooutsometimeforamovieorsomething?” Adrien suppressed the smirk that threatened at the sudden blitzkrieg of words.

 

“Hmmm…” Adrien thought for a moment, trying to organize his thoughts into an intelligent form for what he was going to say next.  “Wait a year.” He sipped his latte, wincing as the heat burned his tongue. She blinked at him. He rubbed one hand on the back of his neck, and waited for her response.

 

“W-wait a-”

 

“A year, yeah.” SHe blinked again, and Adrien couldn’t suppress the smirk this time.

 

“Um.. I’m not really sure what you mean?”

 

“I mean, like. I really like you, Marinette. You’re strong, cute, and one hell of a designer. But..  I feel like we don’t actually know each other that well, and I don’t want you to ask out the ‘perfect guy’ and end up disappointed. I’m not anything like _that.”_ He gestured out the window at one of the Gabriel billboards that had sprung up all over Paris for his father’s  spring line, all of which bore his face. “I’m honestly nothing special. Certainly nothing to get nervous over.” She blinked a third time,  seeming to finally come awake at last.

 

“I don’t… I didn’t mean to make you feel like I just wanted to date a model.” She said, a little hollow.

 

“Trust me, you didn’t.” He smiled earnestly. “If I thought you were like that I would have said ‘No’.”

 

“You aren’t saying no?”

 

“No, I’m just saying.. Well, let’s put a pin in this. Come hang out with Nino, Alya and I. Text me sometime. Get to know me a little better. And if you still want to ask me out afterwards, go for it.” He took another sip of his Latte, and found it much more comfortable now.

 

“O-okay.”

 

“Okay!” His tone was enthusiastic, and it dragged a smile out of the deflated girl across the table. “Why don’t we start now?”  And slowly over the next half an hour they chatted, Nothing big, just little things. Favorite color (his was red, hers was pink) Favorite restaurant and movie, ect ect. By the time they paid and headed back to school she almost seemed comfortable.

  
  


Adrien was so caught up in the conversation, he didn’t even feel his phone buzz.

 

The text only said three words “Akuma, School, Mendeleiev”

  
THey were walking up the college steps when the wall beside them exploded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the cliffhanger, but I need sleep at some point. Enjoy, comment, critique, yell, leave cryptic messages in bottles for me to find bobbing in the waves twenty years from now as I fish for crabs in the Bering Sea. 
> 
> I love all forms of feedback


	4. The Disciplinarian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bad teachers make even worse Akuma.
> 
> Chat shows of his skills with a pole.
> 
> Marinette says something stupid.

 

Nino was steamed. It was honestly a weird feeling, because he didn’t get angry very often. Thanks to his parents, he’d always had a bit of a relaxed attitude towards life. His father always said people from the Islands were just relaxed like that, and that it didn’t matter if he was born in France or not, being cool was his heritage.

 

Not that Nino really believed that. He just didn’t see any value in getting pissed off like that. The only time he ever seemed to get mad was where Adrien was concerned, which is probably why his girlfriend seemed so blindsided when he pulled her aside during lunch.

 

“Alya, what the hell was that? I told you not to push her into that?” He demanded harshly.

 

“Jeez, babe, chill. It all worked out, didn’t it? They’re out for lunch right now!” He rolled his eyes disbelievingly.

 

“No, Adrien decided to take the conversation somewhere else because that was Literally the Worst place to have that conversation! What if he’d said no? We could have had Akuma Marinette to deal with!”

 

“Nino, you know as well as I do that would never happen! Adrien is like, the nicest boy ever.”

 

“EXACTLY! He’s the nicest guy ever, because he has hella anxiety about disappointing people. You just shoved him into a situation where either he had to shoot Marinette down in front of Chloe, or say yes when he probably doesn’t want to!  I freakin warned you not to-” He was practically ranting now. Alya cut him off.

 

“Don’t. You. Yell. At. Me. Nino.” She said with a pissed off expression. Her head bobbed as she spoke, and she snapped in his face, which was Alya for ’Back off’, but Nino wasn’t done.

 

“No! I get that you want to encourage Mari. I do. But you can’t just do that to people because they’re your freaking OTP! It’s way not cool!” Alya was a bit stunned. 

 

“Nino, what the hell? Why are you so mad. you never get like this.”

 

“Adrien doesn’t have other friends to watch his back, he’s only got me. And it’s hard to do that when my own girlfriend won’t listen to me.” He took a deep breath. “I talked to Adrien last night, like you asked. Like I told you when I got home, Yes, Adrien likes Marinette, but he’s way not comfortable dating her when she fangirls out every time they talk. I don’t blame him, every flipping girl he meets does the same crap. I’d be tired of it too.”

 

“I-  Sorry. You’re right, that wasn’t cool”. Alya said in a cowed tone.” I didn’t think it-  OH GOD, MARINETTE!   She’s gonna be devastated.”

 

“Don’t worry about it, It’ll be fine. Adrien said he had a plan.” Nino reassured. Now that he had his say, the anger had evaporated completely.  He got up from the bench, and turned to go back inside.  _ Shit.  _  He immediately crouched, pulling Alya off the bench with him. 

 

“What the-” Nino pointed. “Shit.” Stalking down the hall was Madame Mendeleiev, dressed in a ridiculous over exaggerated teaching outfit,  carrying her meterstick like a sword. She’d clearly been Akumatized. Nino whipped out his phone, and shot Chat a quick text.

 

Meanwhile, Alya was sneaking closer to watch the action, new camera out and running already.

 

* * *

 

 

“Marinette, run! Akuma incoming!” Adrien yelled over the boom

 

“WHere are you going?” She yelled back. “It’s not exactly safe for you either!”

 

“Gotta go get Nino!”  He responded as he rounded the corner out of sight. She wanted to go after him, but she didn’t exactly have the time to waste.  She ducked into an alley and whipped out her purse. 

 

“Tiki! Akuma!” She hissed.  The Red fairy fluttered up out of her nest in Marinette’s makeup accessories.

 

“Alright, let's do this!”

 

“Spots on!”

  
  


* * *

 

 

Finally, an Akuma he could have some fun with!  Chat thought to himself as he ran along the school’s roof.  He’d seen the Metersword she was swinging around. He’d always loved fencing, and with the boost that the Miraculous gave him, Chat became a pretty mean swordsman.

 

The excitement that he felt at the idea of duelling a monster didn’t even disturb the boy anymore. Plagg said that most Chats were the same way. Apparently it came with the territory of being a being of bad luck and destruction. Hey, he was allowed to enjoy his job, wasn’t he?

 

He leapt off the roof, using his claws against the wall to slow himself.  _ There she is! _

 

Chat flung himself forward through the window, rolling to come up behind the Akuma. He didn’t even bother with his usual banter, he just extended his baton into an escrima stick and swung. The slash was interrupted by her Yardsaber, as she shrieked “insubordination! I am the Disciplinarian!”

 

“Don’t you know, Cats never listen?” For an old science teacher, she had decent sword skills. Nothing on him, of course, but more than he’d expected. Chat went into autopilot, hearing his fencing instructor's voice in his head.  _ Counter and riposte. Thrust, block, mind your footing boy! Duck! _

__ Unfortunately, neither weapon had a guard, so it was going to be difficult to disarm her, but if he could  pin it down for a second and summon Cataclysm— 

 

“Hall Monitors! Take him to detention!” She screamed hysterically. Chat just managed to leap over the three students wearing dunce caps that threw themselves at him. He flipped backwards a couple of times to put distance between himself and the zombie hall monitors. Somewhere off to the side he heard part of the roof collapse, and saw water spray out of the bathroom. The sheer amount of structural damage she’d already caused just went to show that the Akuma were getting stronger.

 

“Ha, trying to Cat-ch me off guard? Sorry, I’m too quick on my paws!” He bantered, sneering at the attackers gleefully.

 

“Kitty, that was terrible.”

 

“Ah, my lady! Wonderful to see you!  Of course, I had the situation in paw the whole time, but still.”

 

“Mmm, sure you did. Look out!” One of the  students from the room behind him came stumbling into the hallway and made a grab for him. Chat caught the student’s arm, and judo threw him down the hallway. The flying minion knocked into the four others and they all toppled.

 

“Hey, look at that! Student Bowling!” He remarked

 

“Be careful, Chat. They may be trying to kill us, but they are just innocent bystanders.” 

 

“Worry not, My Lady. I didn’t throw them THAT hard”

 

“Chat, not that hard for us, and not that hard for a thirteen year old are two very different-“

 

“Paw-se that thought, Ladybug. We have incoming.” Little bits of chalk came flying down the hallway like bullets. Ladybug spun her Yo-Yo like a shield in front of her, successfully deflecting the barrage. Chat just _moved_. Chat’s acrobatics had been improving, she noted happily. They both started out a bit clumsy, but it seemed like Ladybug got the hang of fighting so much faster. Tikki insisted that it was Chat’s aura of bad luck that made combat harder for him.  Luck, good and bad, radiated off the miraculous. Tikki told her that most Chats improved by leaps and bounds once they learned that they could focus and contain their own luck, but they had to learn the skill the hard way.

  
  


Plagg had never explained any of that to Adrien. He barely explained anything. Adrien just thought he was kind of bad at being a Superhero.

 

“Ladybug, I’ll get in close and take out the yardstick, you figure out where the butterfly is hiding.” She nodded

 

Chat ran up the wall, dodging the chalk bullets that followed his path, leapt clear over the small army of students in the halls. He tried to land on his feet in front of the akuma, but as luck would have it, the floor was covered in water that was pouring out of the bathroom. The second his boots hit the ground, they slipped out from under him.

 

He just went with it. Chat’s momentum carried him through the teacher’s feet, just as the Ruler Blade missed his hair by inches. Heh, can’t believe that worked. He popped to his feet behind her, and swung down with his baton. The Disciplinarian managed to parry, and pushed against the baton as hard as she could, but chat matched her force easily.

 

“Cataclysm!” He cried out, smacking the yardstick away with his boiling black hand. The stick rotted away in midair, He celebrated internally for a moment, right up until the akumatized teacher reminded him that she was still a significant threat. By force. By punting him back down the hallway towards his partner.

  
  


“Me-Ouch.” He exclaimed weakly as he landed.  Ladybug offered him a hand up.

 

“You good, kitty?”

 

“Yes, I am a good kitty. Most of the time, anyway.” He replied with a wink.

 

“Well, that answers that. If you can still flirt, you can't be that bad.  The akuma has to be in her glasses. I thought it’d be the yardstick…”

 

“Yeah, I figured it was the Ruler Rapier as well” Chat replied, pounding his chest with one paw and coughing.  He could feel a slight clicking every time he breathed, which was a tad worrying.

 

“The what?”

 

“The Measuring Machete? YardSaber?” Ladybug groaned a bit.

 

“Alright, come on Chat, let’s get this over with.”

 

* * *

 

 

The rest of the fight took painfully long to wrap up. It was infuriating. Apparently she could still fire off pieces of chalk (She was actually spitting the at the heroes, which was super gross.) and the hall monitors wouldn’t leave them alone either. The fight ended up spilling out of the school and into the streets, which made the whole thing much easier. 

 

In the end, Ladybug just punched the Disciplinarian in the face as hard as she could, successfully snapping the glasses. The aftermath passed in its usual blur. She exhaustedly cleansed the akuma. The Lucky Charm was tossed, the things were fixed.

 

“Mission Accomplished” they chorused, both incredibly relieved to be done.  Once the vultures with cameras and mics swooped in. Alya was somehow leading the pack, despite the fact that she was surrounded by T.V. and Newspaper reporters with  _ actual press passes _ . Chat chuckled. That girl’s determination knew no bounds. 

 

Ladybug gave a subtle gesture and Yo-Yo’ed away. Chat followed, gritting his teeth against his burning ribs. He didn’t allow it to show, however. If it was known that he’d been injured, two unfortunate things would occur. One, Hawkmoth would know that he was actually making progress, and Tow, He’d be painted as even  _ more _ of a sidekick than he already was. Honestly, he didn’t really  _ mind _ necessarily. Playing second fiddle was a good spot for him. It allowed him to do what he needed to do. His job, namely protecting Ladybug. Also, it meant that no one (hopefully including Ladybug and Hawkmoth themselves) noticed that he was getting better at this.

 

During nights where Ladybug patrolled alone, Chat would often go out and train. As himself, as Adrien, it didn’t matter. He just knew that if he wanted to do his job, he needed to be much better. He couldn’t be ending up paws up, or controlled like a puppet, or tied up as a hostage. That was asinine. What kind of knight got captured by the enemy that often?? It really burned his whiskers. So, train he did. Gym exersizes, free running, trying to get a handle on his surplus of bad luck (which led to some seriously close calls). But it was paying off.

 

So no, he didn’t mind the sidekick treatment. But occasionally, every once in a while his feline pride got the better of him, and he wanted a little attention. Just a tiny nod, a handshake, maybe a fan club or two—  

 

All of a sudden, Chat came to the realization that he’d been standing too long, spacing out in front of some pretty huge news networks, and his ring had already beeped once. He hurriedly followed his lady off to the rooftops, casually shrugging off the million questions.Once they were perched on a relatively flat roof, she collapsed to a sitting position. He took it a step further, stretching out further until he lay flat in the sun.

 

“You okay there, kitty?” The tone of concern in her voice warmed his heart. He almost shot back a flirty line, but he bit it back at the last second. This of course made him even more confused. _Why_? The Chat Noir part of his psyche asked, rankling against the display of self control. _Because,_ the tiny voice of Adrien responded. _She doesn’t think we’re serious anyway. Why bother? Plus, we decided to give Marinette a chance, and she’ll never get one for real if we’re still pinning away after Ladybug._

 

“ I’m fine, Ladybug.” He responded, his voice sounding far too Adrien. It was a distinctly un-Chatlike, and it seemed he wasn’t the only one who noticed.

 

“You get hurt?” He vigorously shook his head.

 

“Of course not, my lady.” 

 

* * *

  
  


Marinette’s eyes narrowed behind the mask. Chat would never intentionally lie to her, she knew that full well. He was the most trustworthy part of her life, bar none. Always there to back her up, always up front and honest (even if he was a silly cat). He’d never lied about being hurt before. But she didn’t like the sudden shift in his attitude. It could just be exhaustion, she rationalized. But the leather-clad hero never passed up an opportunity to flirt, to joke, to toss out a pun. The distinct  _ lack  _  of that worried her

 

“You seem… distracted.”

 

“Just real-life stuff. Nothing you’d want to know about.” He disguised the faint tinge of bitterness in his voice well, but not quite well enough. Marinette frowned slightly. She hated it every bit as much as he did, but it had to be this way.  _ Had to be. _  Risking everything for a real name wasn’t worth it. 

Her stance wouldn’t change, and he was well aware of that. But he was clearly conflicted about something. Every instinct in Marinette’s body screamed her to go comfort him, ask him what was wrong. It was in her nature to comfort her friends, and Chat was the best.

 

“Perhaps… if you kept it vague enough..”

 

“There are people involved. One of which may or may not be a girl. That’s about as specific as I can get without explaining some kind of back story, my lady.”

 

“Ah. Perhaps, tell this girl how you feel?” Chat snorted disbelievingly.

 

“Really, Ladybug? 'Tell her how I feel?' You think I, of all people, would have trouble telling someone how I feel? After two years of confessions?”

 

“No, I didn’t mean flirt with her, I meant be genuine. Honest.” The second she spoke she knew she’d said something wrong. She wasn’t entirely sure what.

  
“Have you ever considered that it  _ is _ genuine? That I mean what I say? Because I’m not in the habit of lying, Ladybug.” Marinette blinked slowly, and opened her mouth to respond, but the black figure was gone by the time she’d opened them. A minute later, she heard a distinctive beep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chat/Adrien is referred to as chat when he transforms because he thinks of Chat Noir as the real one, and adrien Agreste as the mask
> 
> Marinette always thinks of herself as just Marinette.
> 
> For once, Marinette is the dense on in the equation.
> 
> Also, Nino is bae.


	5. Research Project

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat does some fake 'research' as an excuse to visit Marinette in costume. Not to seduce her or anything, mind you, that would be creepy. Just... just to see how she reacts to the real him.
> 
> The research turns into real research. 
> 
> Now he actually does have to interview her.

 

“Hmm, what do you think, Plagg?”

 

“I think this is literally the worst idea ever. You’re seriously making up fake lists for “Akuma research” just to visit a girl?  You know that’s abuse of Chat powers, right?”

 

“Please, like you and I are actually restricted by some innate set of rules regarding what we can or can’t do? You’re just being lazy. Half the time I transform for our “duty” you have to be dragged to the miraculous by force! So I’m calling nonsense on ‘abuse’.”

 

“No, uh, it’s totally in the rules. Very strict set of rules. Kwami get all the food they want, Teenagers don’t get to use their powers to do weird human mating rituals. It’s all written down.” Adrien rolled his eyes, and kept writing.  Truth was, he wasn’t just faking it anymore. Adrien had noticed something, and he was trying to chase the hint of a pattern as far as it would go.  In front of him he had a list of akuma, and a list of people from their school. He’d marked all of the ones that appeared on both lists. That eliminated a huge number of them. The outliers didn’t have anything in common, as far as he could tell. 

 

Adrien always did a few preliminary google searches for a person’s name after they’d been akumatized, hoping to find a common element. Some company, or group, or shared trait. So far, bupkis. The Kids+ T.V. station seemed to have a fair number of Akuma related to it. So did his school, but he figured it was Plagg’s bad luck. That, or chloe’s natural talent for provoking akuma attacks.

 

“Merde, what’s the pattern  lead to? There’s two distinct groups.  Those that happen around me, and the ones that happen when I’m nowhere near. It seems like a disproportionate amount happens around me, or rather us, so where do the outliers come from?” A cheese filled sigh over his shoulder filled the air with a moldy smell

 

“Ladybug, you idiot. If most of them occur around you because of your miraculous, wouldn’t it follow that the others happen around her?”

 

“Yes, but her miraculous cures akuma, mine don’t. It only follows that Hawkmoth would focus on her, not me. So either we just happen to be in the same place all the time, or Hawkmoth is trying to get rid of me first to soften her up?”

 

“Well, we were regarded as a God of War back in Egypt, kid. A properly experienced and motivated Chat Noir is a terrifying thing.  Nooroo knows-  Hawkmoth knows that.”

 

“Noo—   Plagg, who the hell is Nooroo.” Plagg sighed

 

“That’s Hawkmoths kwami. Hawkmoth got ahold of him somehow. I can’t explain more right now.” Adrien hated that answer, but it was useless. Plagg was tightlipped when he wanted to be.

 

“Anyway, If he was focusing that much on me, they’d all be connected back to me. I’m willing to bet Ladybug and I cross paths often enough for at least some of these to be cross contamination….    Also, It’s probably a bit opportunist, because Hawkmoth can’t just make people angry. He has to wait for reactions, which happen more often around me because of my father and Chloe…”  He was lost in thought.

 

“Well, at least you aren’t faking it for a girl now, I suppose.” Plagg grumbled.

 

“No, I’m not, but we do need to go visit Marinette now.”

 

“Adrien, what did I just— “

 

“It’s not abuse, Plagg, It’s actual research. I need to know what’s different about her. Everyone in our class has been akumatized except for her. I have a miraculous. What’s different about her?” Plagg grumbled something incoherent, then -surprisingly- acquiesced. 

 

Moments later, Chat was leaping his way across the rooftops, on his way towards the best patisserie in Paris.

  
  
  


“A YEAR?!” Alya exclaimed. “He told you to wait a year, to see if you actually like  _ him? _ What does that even mean??” 

 

“I don’t even know, Alya. He seemed… resigned. Like he thought I wouldn’t be interested a year from now. Why in God’s name I wouldn’t be interested in him a year from now I don’t know?”

 

“Well, I mean, how much do we actually know about him, for hobbies or personality?”  Marinette pondered the question for a moment.

 

“Well, he likes physics, he fences and speaks chinese, he’s a model…  He’s nice to everyone, he’s a gentleman, he tried to take gum of my chair that one time…”

 

“So… not much at all?” Alya remarked, eyebrows furrowed.  She’d never actually thought about it. She was just trying to get Mari in with her hot model-crush. But, for all her borderline stalking, Marinette didn’t actually know much  _ about  _  Adrien. Nino’s voice from earlier echoed in her head, warning her about fangirling and Adrien being uncomfortable.

 

“I-I don’t know, Alya. Maybe he’s right, I s-should give up” Marinette said shakily. “I’ve gone way overboard with this crush. And I barely know anything about him except for his schedule and how he looks in Haute Couture.”

 

“Did he tell you to give up? Cuz, girl, it sounds to me like he actually wants you two to be closer…”

 

“B-but, Alya, He’s like an allergy. The more I’m exposed to him the worse I get.” A silky voice sounded from the other end of the balcony where she stood.

 

“Try puns. They make everything less awkward.

 

“Omigod is that Chat Noir?!”  Marinette’s heart sunk.

 

“What are  _ you  _  doing here, minou?”

 

“My princess wounds me. I was just hoping I could ask you a few questions…” He eyed the phone. “-off the record.”

 

“Alya, is it ok if i call you back tomorrow?” Alya gave her a salute, and hung up. Moments later, she started receiving texts  

 

“OMIGOD, HOW DOES CHAT NOIR KNOW YOU”

 

“YOU HAVE TO TELL ME EVERYTHING TOMORROW”

 

“GRAB HIS ASS FOR ME (it just looks so good in leather I mean goddamn)”

 

“Don’t tell Nino I said that”

 

And lastly  

 

“ASK HIM FOR AN INTERVIEW FOR ME.”

  
  
  


Once the barrage of messages ended, Chat chuckled.  

 

“She certainly is… excitable.  It’s good to see I have a fan.”

 

“That it must be, since you have so few.” Marinette retorted, halfway between teasing and sarcasm. 

 

“Well, luckily, you are the only fan I need, princess” Chat responded with a wink. Marinette waved him away, scowling.

 

“ What’s this about, Tomcat? You better not be here just to flirt. There’re a million girls in Paris that actually  _  want _ to be hit on by leather-clad Catboys, and I’m not one.” Chat gave her an odd look.

 

“Actually, this isn’t a personal call.” Marinette flushed. She realized suddenly that she was coming off way too hostile. Also, probably a tad too familiar. After all, she only met Chat once as Marinette. “And, uh, where’d you get the idea that I flirt with random ladies around Paris?”

  
“The Evillistrator?” Marinette did a horrible imitation of Chat Noir “Wanna help out a superhero, little lady?”

 

“So we’ve established that I flirt with  _ you.” _ Chat remarked, with a sly grin.

 

“Uh.. wait, no…”  She didn’t actually have an answer to that.  “Ladybug!  You flirt with her all the time!”

 

“Ahhh, but my lady is different. She isn’t some random girl either.”

 

“Ah, so you only flirt with two girls in all of Paris? I find that hard to believe!”

 

“How often do you think I have free time as Chat?” He chuckled. “I have night patrol with Ladybug, and I fight Akuma.  There aren’t many social opportunities out there for masked vigilantes.”

 

“Wait, so you.. You don’t act like this out of costume?”

 

“Not even close.”  Well, that was an interesting fact to add to the list.

 

“Speaking of not many social opportunities in costume, I’m afraid this isn’t one either. Not that I wouldn’t enjoy a  _ chat _ , but I have some rather important questions to ask you.” Marinette was lost. Since when did Chat go around interviewing people. She knew that he interviewed a few of the Akuma survivors, but this was entirely new to her, as Marinette or Ladybug.  Shouldn’t she be here for this?

 

“Uh, why isn’t Ladybug here?”  Chat’s face betrayed just a hint of irritation, as if he was sick of hearing that question.

 

“Well, I’m doing a bit of investigating on my own. I’ll let her know if I turn anything up, but it’s rather hard to cooperate on an investigation with a partner you don’t know, and only see at akuma attacks and on rooftops.” Marinette conceded the point mentally. They really had no way of contacting each other. It was a problem she’d come across a few times, and honestly had no solution for.

 

“W-well, uh, okay.” She sat on her chair, and faced him.  “What questions?”

 

“Have you ever seen or touched a small black butterfly? Or seen any strange ones at Lycee?” She shook her head. 

 

“Not aside from the ones on the Lady Blog that I’ve seen pictures of.”

 

“Okay, so he hasn’t even tried to akumatize you…  hmm” Chat murmured.  “So, do you work anywhere besides here?

 

“No, I use all of my free time helping at the patisserie.”  Chat was holding a small notebook, taking notes.  “How about you, kitty?”  He cocked his head to the side quizzically. “What, I feel like I’m being interrogated here! Let’s have a little give and take.” Marineete fully expected him to say no outright, but she had to keep up the facade. Any normal girl would probably be trying to ask him such things. 

 

“Sure, why not? Chat gave her a look, one that made her feel like he was calling her bluff. Which was impossible, but still. “Can’t you tell, Princess?  I’m clearly a model!” He strutted down the roof, posturing ridiculously. <arinette actually started laughing at that, pretty hard.   

 

“Sorry, kitty, but I know models, and  _ you _  are no model.”

 

_ Oh yeah? Wanna bet?  _

  
“Well, if you aren’t going to believe me, then I shan’t answer any more questions! I’m Paws-itively offended.” Chat’s miraculous beeped. “Looks as though we’ll have to continue this conversation another time, princess. Sleep tight.”   CHat leapt backwards off the balcony, and moments later, she saw his figure leaping away into the night by the light of the moon.

 

"Sleep tight, mon petit Chaton"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adrien loves physics and science, It makes sense that he'd take an intellectual approach to things if he noticed a pattern emerging. at least thats what I think


	6. Mornings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien wake up feeling terrible. Thus is the superhero life
> 
> Nino wakes up awesome, because he lived a blessedly normal life... apart from the Chat Noir bits.
> 
> They learn their lesson and stick to texting in class
> 
> Adrien is doing way to much of this research, it's starting to become a distraction

 

He sat up all night, working on his new project. Making lists, pulling up and printing out class rosters, finding official databases of akuma victims…the work blurred at one point, all of the print outs bleeding into each other.

 

_ Wait, since when was Mr. Pidgeon one of my classmates? And I very clearly don’t recall fighting Adrien Agreste as an akuma… I think that would be memorable _ .

 

Perhaps it was time to put this stuff away.  He scooped up all of the sheets, and hid them in his “ladybug box”. It was a small floor safe in his closet that required his iris scan to enter. Gorilla bought it at his bequest, despite the fact that his father would likely disapprove. Gorilla was a good guy like that. Adrien’s head hit the pillow, and like a lightbulb he was out.

  
  
  


The very loud buzzing by his ear, the small black cat tugging at his shirt, and Nathalie knocking at his door. These were the things that Adrien woke up to.  Beautiful. Today’s going to be a winner.

 

He dressed at lightning speed, which wasn’t really anything new. Runway modelling was like being an actor in a play. You had minutes or seconds to strip and get dressed backstage, and you had to do it right.  He was the king of getting his clothes on and off in a hurry.  Unfortunately, in his rush, Adrien broke his usual pattern. Ordinarily, he kept the outfits light, summery. The exact opposite of Chat Noir. He already looked exactly like the guy, he didn’t want the jig to be up just because he happened to grab a black turtleneck and charcoal colored shoes, but there was no time. He was going to be late as hell if he went back now. Just gotta hope his bad luck would hold off for today.

  
  
  


Nino woke up to his favorite sound in the world. He always slept with headphones on (Not his main pair, they were worth way too much to risk breaking because he slept on them wrong.) and he had a playlist specifically for waking up. It went from light, relatively gentle stuff (usually indie rock or something) to ease him out of his stupor, then built up to the heavier stuff (Electroswing and dubstep) as he went about his morning routine. Music was, in his opinion, vastly superior to coffee.  Well, music and the three energy drinks waiting for him in his locker, but that was neither here nor there.

 

He hauled himself out of bed, pulled on his signature blue eyeball shirt and a green tmnt hoodie with a turtle shell on the back. Pulling both on, he walked in front of the full length mirror. 

 

“Not bad at all, Nino. Not exactly Adrien Agreste, but not bad.”

  
  
  


“Bro! How was my favorite model’s morning?” Nino asked , extending a fist.  Adrien chuckled weakly and bumped it.

 

“Terrible. I woke up late because I was busy with ..uh.. Pet stuff. And I grabbed this” He gestured to his dark outfit “ on the way out instead of my usual because I woke up so late.”

 

“So? Dude, you look sick as hell in dark colors, as all of Paris knows.” Nino winked.

 

“Yeah, dude that’s the point. I always dress in light colors _ because all of paris sees me in a black cat suit every night _ .  Someone could put two and two together if I go around in Chat’s colors every day.”

 

“Oh shit, dude, I didn’t even think of that. Being a superhero is so much more complicated than I thought it would be.” Adrien shrugged. 

 

“I can’t imagine how much of a pain it must be for Ladybug. At least I have you to help me out.”

 

“How do you know that she doesn’t have her own uh… help?”

 

“LadyBug is like, 100% anonymity all the time forever. ‘No one can ever know’ and all that.” Nino nodded thoughtfully.

 

“Fair enough, dude. Let’s head in, the bell’s about to ring.” 

  
  
  


N: SO

 

A: So what dude

 

N: You never did tell me how things went with poor Marinette. Did you let her down easy?

 

A: Actually I think I came up with something better.  I told her to wait a year.

 

N: Wut.

 

A: Yeah, I said she should come hang out with us more often, and be friends for a year. And If she still wanted to ask me out then, to go for it.  Kind of, challenged to get to know the real me i guess.

 

N: that seems fair, but I mean. You realize you just basically invited her to find out that you’re Chat Noir right?  How long did it take me to realize your punny ass was Chat?

 

A: Shit.  SHIT.

 

N: Yupp. I mean, I’ve known Marinette for years, she’s trustworthy, but still.

 

A: Meh, It would be impossible to date someone for long without them finding out anyway..

 

N: Man, you are way more lax with this secret Identity stuff than LadyBug is.

 

A:Hey, I resent that. I’m not lax, I’ve kept it away from Natalie and Gorilla, my father, all the staff, Alya, Marinette, Kim, Chloe.. pretty much everyone.  

 

N: What am I chopped liver?

 

A: Nah dude, you’re the only one who paid enough attention to actually  _ notice _  That’s why you’re the best!

  
  


Nino chuckled, and tucked his phone back into the inside pocket of his hoodie. Time to actually pay attention. He couldn’t just eat his phone, after all, so he couldn’t get caught again.

  
  
  


Once school was over, Adrien was back at it, sitting at his desk. He’d completed cross-referencing the list of students and Akuma, and there was a surprisingly small pool of students that hadn’t gotten akumatized. Most of them were older, about to graduate, and he supposed that sort of made sense..  With age came better emotional control, and most teenagers were an absolute mess of hormones and angst.  

 

Not that Adrien thought he was an exception, but living in the same house as Gabriel Agreste required a certain level of thick skin. The ability to brush off disappointment and being overlooked or underestimated. The ability to swallow strong emotion, to pretend he didn’t feel anything the way his father seemed to. After sixteen years of it, Adrien was a professional. Before he became Chat Noir there wasn’t a single crack in his emotional shield. Before he became friends with Nino, no one ever would have guessed that he had any states beyond frustration and neutral.  

 

Lately though, he’d been pulled out of his shell bit by bit. His affection for Ladybug, his friendship with Nino.. These days, Adrien found it a struggle to keep that vapid serene smile plastered on his face instead of his Chatlike grin, and he had to bite back the instinctive snarky responses and puns in every interview.   It made everything more difficult, but he wouldn’t give up either part of his life for the world.   _ And honestly, fuck being a porcelain doll for the rest of my life. Father’s going to learn at some point that I have actual human emotions.  _

 

He was so absorbed in his research, he didn’t hear it. The creak of the window opening, the small green shape that flitted up to his Kwami and chittered in some strange lyrical language, dropping a small scroll on his desk.

 

By the time he was getting up and stretching, preparing himself for the night’s patrol, it was gone. No more small green creature. No scroll.  Adrien never would have known about the intrusion but for the fact that Plagg looked at him strangely before they combined.

 

“Tomorrow after school, we need to go somewhere”

 

“What, where?”

  
“Apparently it’s time for you to meet the Grand Master.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda a filler chapter, but I'm working hard on the next one.
> 
> Read, comment, critique, the usual. and remember. I treat Kudos and Comments like scooby snacks, so if you want to read more, lemme know what you think


	7. Chat is a sly dog.. (Sly cat?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the title says it all. 
> 
> Also we get more bro talks

“Hey there, Chaton”   He glanced over his shoulder at the red spotted figure, and his breath hitched a little bit in his chest.  Who was he kidding last time? He’d never get over her, look at that sight. The red and Black spotted suit that hugged her curves, the blue eyes that sparkled in the moonlight.  It was enough to get his heartbeat racing and make his suit ever so slightly uncomfortable.

 

“My Lady. You look lovely as always”  Chat bowed, deep and theatrically, and ladybug chuckled. 

 

“So, silly kitten, what’s this I hear about you doing interviews and investigations without me?”  Chat blinked.  Marinette must have talked, since she was literally the only one who knew…  Hmm   He’d thought she would be a little more tight lipped than that, especially considering the sensitive subject.

 

“Ahhhh, see, I was planning to bring you into the loop tonight, but it seems our princess doesn’t know that loose lips sink ships… Are you and Marinette friends, my Lady?”

 

“Ah.. well, we speak on occasion, and she.. Uh.. mentioned that she had a visit from my favorite stray so I inquired a bit further.”

 

“You did this as Ladybug?” He inquired, eyes slitted thoughtfully.

 

“Why does it matter Chat?”

 

“Because, my lady. If she told Ladybug, than that’s fine. I trust you completely. But if the lovely princess was gossiping about my Hawkmoth research to just any civilian, then I’m afraid I misjudged her trustworthiness…”  Ladybug glanced at the cat boy, unsure what to make of this side of him. Chat was ordinarily very relaxed about the official side of their job. For him to be taking such a new tack with this ‘Investigation’, and being so serious about privacy was a foreign concept.   Also, she was a tiny bit flattered that he thought her civilian self so trustworthy after only meeting her twice.

 

“I was in costume. She told it to Ladybug, Chat. She’s trustworthy, don’t worry yourself.”  A thought occurred to her the moment she finished her sentence. “So… You sounded awfully disappointed about that idea”

 

“Which idea, bugaboo?”

 

“The idea that she ratted you out! You starting to develop a crush on poor Marinette? Your ‘Princess’?”

 

“Well, the princess is quite a lovely girl, but sneaking in a girl’s window in a leather suit at night isn’t something I make a habit of, my Lady.  Also, you know you’re the only girl for me!” _ Just apparently not Adrien... _ “

 

“Shame, then, that you aren’t the only boy for me, eh Chaton?”   _ Oh shit, that was way too harsh wasn’t it _ ?   Ladybug opened her mouth to apologize, but her partner raised a clawed hand to stay her words.  

 

“Mmmm, such a shame that I’m not your only boy yet.” He responded with a wink, burying the shard of glass that appeared in his stomach at her words. “Seems I must woo harder then.”   So, what prince has caught my lady’s attention?”

 

“Uhhh… I’m not sure I..”

 

“I promise to behave, and not to abuse the information, milady. I’d just like to know the name of the competition..”

 

“Oh, what the hell, not like he isn’t all over Paris anyway.  He’s a model, Adrien Agreste.” At that, Chat froze… and then  _ laughed. Hard. _  “What’s so funny, Chat?! Your one to mock, falling in love with a superhero!”

 

“I  _ paw _ mise, milady, I wasn’t mocking.  Just” He wiped a tear away from his face, stifling his painful gut splitting laugh.  “Just _ cat _ up by the irony of it all, I wasn’t laughing at you”

 

“What Irony?”   

 

“Uh, I can’t tell you” Chat sobered up rather quickly

 

“Why not?”

 

“Uh, it has to do with my actual identity..”

 

“You know Adrien somehow, then?”

 

“..You could say that, I suppose?”  Ladybug let the subject drop. She did very much NOT want to know.  “Although, I can share part of the irony with you safely, I suppose…  Adrien and Marinette were the only two students in their class not Akumatized, and I was going to interview him next. I could let you go instead if you like?”  Chat wiggled his eyebrows dramatically.

 

“What, no jealous kitty act? I’m impressed Chat.”

 

“I’m a superhero, ma cherie, Jealousy would be a bit below me, would it not?”  It wasn’t. It absolutely wasn’t, and he knew that, but seeing as how it was HIM they were talking about, Ladybug didn’t really need to know that. “Despite what one might expect, I’m not very  _ catty” _

 

“Ooo, I was almost impressed but you had to ruin it with a pun..” But she was smiling.  “So, I suppose I’ll go do your interview for you.  Tell me more about this ‘investigating’.” The pair of them spent the rest of the patrol discussing what he was doing with the akuma victim lists and the pattern tracking. It was impressive, and a bit unnerving for her. The pattern he was discussing led to her. He claimed a majority of the Akuma occurred in his vicinity, which meant he was unnervingly close to her for most of them… She just had to cross her fingers and hope that he didn’t figure out that she’d been near them as well.

 

Ladybug managed to confirm for him that a lot of his ‘outliers’ were near her when they occurred. All of them were in public enough places that they didn’t give her away, but a niggling concern lingered in  the back of her mind that he’d have some sort of Eureka moment.

  
  
  
  
  


“Before we part for the night, My Lady, I just wanted to assure you. I don’t intend to use any of this to find YOU. This is all about Hawkmoth. Your privacy is intact.”

 

“Thank you, Minou. That means a lot to me. Sleep tight”  

 

“And sweet dreams to you as well, my lady.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


Chat  bounded onto the property, dodging all of the cameras and ducking through blind spots to get back to his room.  Once he made it back, he eagerly broke the transformation and texted Nino.

  
  
  


A: Dude

 

N: WHat

 

A: you’ll literally never guess what happened on patrol.

 

N:Oh?  Something LadyBlog worthy?

 

A: No, no. Not that kind of scopp.

 

A: Scoop. Wtf autocorrect. Scopp isn’t even a word.

 

N: Hit me with it.

 

A: Ladybug apparent;ly has a crush on ADRIEN AGRESTE

 

N: WTF   WHAT DO WE EVEN DO WITH THAT INFORMATIONNNNN

 

A:  Well uh.. Remember that investigating I was doing? And How Marinette and I are the only students in our year that haven’t been Akuma’d?  ...I kinda sorta told her she should come interview Adrien for me for the investigation, since I already talked to Marinette…

 

N: Oh you SLY DOG!

 

A: Heh, yeah I guess that was a bit sly…

 

N: >.Uh  what about the Marinette thing? I thought you guys were giving it a chance at some point.

 

A: well, I wasn’t planning on banging her on the settee, DJ

 

N WHat if Lady bug is planning to Bang YOU on the settee?

 

A: Well.. uh..  Carpe Diem?  If she decides to tie me up with her yoyo and molesting me, than that's what happens?

 

N: I’m kinkshaming you rn

 

A: jeez Nino

 

A: I’m allowed to like assertive women. It doesn’t have to be a kink thing

 

N: Sure, sure. Pretend I wasn’t talking about your predilection for being tied up...  But that’s not like  cheating on Mari? Cuz bros or no bros, superhero or no superhero, cheating on the prez isn’t cool

 

A: Nah, Neen. Marinette and I aren’t a thing yet. I told her to like, wait a year before she asked me out again. If she wanted to like, hook up with Nathaniel or Lila next week, that would be cool because we aren’t even going out.   

 

A: I mean, in the extremely unlikely event that Ladybug jumps my bones tomorrow night, I’m not going to brag to her about it. ANd I don’t think Lady is planning on dating a civilian in costume, or telling me who she is. But it’s totally not cheating  or even a dick move, i don’t think

 

N: That seems fair.   BTW, been imagining her hooking up with Lila much? Don’t make me kinkshame you again…

 

A: What I do in the privacy of my huge shower is my business, Bubbles.

 

N:GROSSSSSS

  
  
  


A:Btw.. After school tomorrow, I have a Chat thing to do out of costume. Can you come with me?...  Apparently, I need to meet the grand master? (NO FUCKING CLUE WHO THAT IS)and I’d really like to have some back up in case it’s a trap..

  
N: Word

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nino is coming to see the Wizard of Fu!
> 
> We're gonna get Ladrien Interaction because Chat/Adrien is one smart sinnamon bun And I do mean SIN amon bun. You hear all that kinkshaming?
> 
> we'll see if they bang on the settee (which I think is a kind of posh couch? idk I got it from a british guy) at some point in the next few chapters, at which point the rating will have to go up, and I'll warn you all first.
> 
> Or she might not be a filthy sinner haven't decided yet it's up to you, the viewers. Dial 1800-Lady-bug-dom for kinky mature/explicit scenes if yes  
> DIAL 1800 KINK-SHAME-CHAT for not that
> 
> Comment, critique, maybe subscribe if the mood strikes ya? See you next time you crazy kids.


	8. Meeting the Master

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The alternate Title for this chapter is Curb Your Entusiasm. It might blur the line a bit between Teen and Mature.
> 
> Adrien asks for Advice from an unusual source.
> 
> The Bro's meet Fu
> 
> Nino's poorly timed advice leads Adrien into a bit of a hard situation...
> 
> (An Alternate version of this chapter and the next one will be posted for all those who want the SIN

“Hey Alya, can I ask you a weird question?” Adrien asked, somewhat cautiously. He really had no Idea who to ask about this, since Nino’s only response had been about his slyness, and Plagg was notoriously unhelpful, so it came to this. Alya was like, the relationship and hooking up Guru, so she should be able to help, right?

 

“Sure, sunshine, fire away.” She responded, sipping her Mocha frappa macchiato something monstrosity and giving him a smug look.  

 

“You gotta keep this on the DL though, okay? I really don’t want any of this to hit the gossip grapevine.”  He knew how reporters worked, but she was his  _ friend _ , so she’d keep his secrets, right?

 

“Okay, I won’t tell—” 

 

“Not even Marinette. And no crossing your fingers behind your back and speed texting it to her under the desk as I talk.”  Alya’s eyes widened, and she placed her phone back on the desk and locked the screen

 

“Well played, Agreste. You aren’t anywhere near as oblivious as they say you are.”

 

“I’ve dealt with my fair share of journalists, Alya.” He remarked casually. He wasn’t offended honestly. It was in her nature. “Wait, who says I’m oblivious?”

 

“Never mind all that. Spill, let’s hear it.”

 

“Okay… Suppose you played this online RPG game. And you’ve got this friend that you usually play with, because they’re really good, and you play together really well. And you don’t talk often while you play, but over time, you become pretty tight. But they don’t want to meet up or do real names, because you could be a crazy internet creeper, or a 60 year old man. Eventually, though, you find out that your gaming partner has a crush on this guy they know, who’s pretty well known…”

 

“Because they’re a famous model?” She had an eyebrow raised, and he could tell she was probably itching to tell someone the story. He sincerely hoped it would be Nino that she spilled the beans to.

 

“Perhaps.” He admitted with a smile. “So, do you tell them it’s you, when they specifically don’t want to know who you are? Or do you just encourage them to go meet up with their crush and have a good time, and then if it works out eventually admit that it was you?”

 

“Hmmmm… thats a super good question….”  She chewed her lip thoughtfully. “They specifically said they never want to know who you are. Point blank?” He nodded “Well, then admitting to be a famous model  would probably sound like a lie… and also would kinda be a breach of trust, since they asked not to know.  So I’d go with Option two.  Just encourage them to go say Hi to their.. Crush, and give them specific advice on what to say so you know it’s them..  Then, if things go smoothly, later you can admit that you were NerdyWeebBoy420.”

 

“Excuuuuse me. I would never! It’s NerdyKawaiiBoy69, I’ll have you know.”  The bell rang, and andrien thanked her for the advice and hurried to his seat.  Marinette rushed into her seat two minutes later, looking harried.

 

“Hey, gurl, can I ask you something?”

 

“Sure.. what’s up Alya?”

 

“Do you play any RPGs online?”

 

“Uh, sure, a couple. Why?”

 

“Do you tell anyone who you are?”

 

“Hell no. My personal information is sacred. The internet is full of pedophiles!” They both chuckled at that, but Alya grinned into her Starbucks.  _ Godspeed my oblivious children  _

  
  


N: SO

 

A: yeah?

 

N: the RPG thing? Once again, verrrry sly. You sure you aren’t a black Fox?

 

A:  Alya, that fucking Traitor. So much for the downlow.

 

N:You saw this coming, don’t lie

 

A: just because I had low expectations doesn’t mean I’m not disappointed in her.  This is why we can never bring her into the superhero loop.

 

N: yeah, alya is hot, and a great gf, but she fuckin sux at secrets

 

N: SO five o clock for the weird master thing, and the Gorilla is covering for us, right?

 

A:Yep. Thank God for awesome bodyguards

 

N: Seriously, the gorilla is a bro.   
  


  
  
  
  
  


“So, I’ll stay out here until you clear it with the old dude about me getting to know any ancient chinese secrets?” Nino asked calmly. Far more calmly than Adrien felt. Jesus this was big. Like, secrets of magic, why am I a super hero  big. Yet, here was Nino. Chill as a fucking cucumber.  He had the world’s greatest bro.

“Yeah, I’m going to be pushing team Nino pretty hard. You can help so much more if you’re all the way in the fold, right?”  Nino nodded, and popped a squat by the door, popping his headphones on, and Adrien walked inside.

  
  
  


“Ahhhhhh, a new customer! Welcome, welcome!” Said an old silver haired man, crouching under a counter. The room was decorated in the stereotypical chinese style. Lots of bamboo and pictures of mountains painted onto paper screens, mats on the floor.  “What can I do for you—”   He stood up and caught sight of  Adrien, standing awkwardly by the door.

 

“Welcome, Chat Noir.”

 

“Uh… Hello, Grandmaster?”

 

“Please, Call me Master Fu. Did you come alone? I know you often have an Escort of sorts..”

 

“Actually, I have a friend sitting outside. He came with me to make sure this wasn’t some sort of trap.”

 

“Wait.. your friend Nino?  He knows?”  Adrien blinked. Apparently this Grand Master guy paid a LOT of attention to his personal life

 

“Uh, yes. He’s kind of…  He’s completely trustworthy. He’s my confidant. Nino is how I cope with lying to literally everyone else.”

 

“Strange. Usually Ladybug is the trusting one. You are truly an exceptional Chat Noir. Your predecessor, Felix, was… less so. By all means, if you think so highly of him, bring him in.”

  
  
  
  


“Dude, you’re in.” Nino barely heard him over the superb noise cancelling headphones (The top of the line ones Adrien had gotten him for his birthday) but once the words registered, he started feeling nervous. Why had he agreed to meet the old magic dude again? SHit, he was going to make an ass of himself just like he had talking to Monsieur Agreste. Shit shit shit doublefuck. 

 

“Nino, correct?” The ancient Chinese dude said, when he walked in slowly.

 

“Uh, yeah. You’re that Grand Master guy, right?”

 

“Oh, please. Only the Miraculous holders must call me Master. To you, I am just Fu.” Nino relaxed palpably. This guy was, like, the polar opposite of Gabriel Agreste. He was so CHILL.

 

“Well, uh, In that case, nice to meet you, dude! Thanks for giving my boy awesome powers and stuff…” Fu chuckled. He liked the boy, and it was so good to see Adrien with such a strong support system.  Chat Noir always came from an unhappy home. It was in the nature of the chosen to thirst for the power and freedom, and to have absolutely rotten luck. Invariably  that meant they needed something to be free OF. But Plagg would never choose a criminal or someone with ill intent, so his ‘kittens’ (As he called them to Fu and the other Kwami, far out of his chosen’s earshot) were lonely souls. They loved fast and deep, because of their nature, and Adrien was no exception, but he found someone worthy of his companionship so _ quickly _ . 

 

“Of course. Now come in. We have much to discuss.”

  
  


They talked for close to two hours, about the nature of kwami, about how the chosen are found (Fu explained how he and Wayzz were bonded to each dormant kwami, and they were led to each chosen by following the sleeping Kwami’s directions) and finally, about the book. 

 

Adrien flipped out when he saw it, but Master Fu explained how Ladybug had come across the book after Lila had stolen it from his bag, and brought it to him for safekeeping. Adrien, in turn, explained how he and Plagg found it in the wall safe along with a small peacock pendant. Fu’s eyes darkened at that, but he made no comment. 

 

They spent several minutes analyzing Chat’s fighting style. Fu explained the concept of  refining his Bad Luck as an offensive weapon, and told him that he’d seen Chat using it subconsciously.  The idea was almost infectious for Adrien. Finally, he wouldn’t be tripping and getting picked off in battle, Akuma would be. They’d be the ones finding themselves in ridiculous situations because of a loose tile on a roof, or a malfunctioning breaker switch. 

 

Fu also criticized him for being too eager to take blows for others, but acquiesced when Adrien explained that it was done because he lacked the ability to purify Akuma. He could take the hits, and as long as he kept Ladybug alive long enough to win, he’d be fine.. Cataclysm held no such abilities. If Ladybug was fatally wounded, all was lost.

  
  


Once they’d finished, Plagg and Adrien spoke with Wayzz briefly, while Fu took Nino aside.   

 

“My boy. I  so hope that our paths cross again soon. You’ve done great things for Chat, and I really hope they continue.” Fu glanced over his shoulder at Adrien. “Be wary of Monsieur Agreste, however. He is a cold, unscrupulous man.”

 

“Of course.” Nino said, an uncharacteristically hard look appearing in his eyes. “No one is going to harm a hair on his head while I’m around.  Ever.”

  
  
  
  


N: dude, that was, like, surprisingly awesome.  I thing Fu really liked me.

 

A: I know. Grandmaster Fu really knows his stuff. 

 

N: so you pumped to get molested by a crazy hot, spandex wearing superhero bro?

 

A: Jesus, Neen. She isn’t like that. 

 

N: you just wish she was like that?

 

A: I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’d love to hook up with Ladybug. For god’s sake I’m in love with the woman. And If she’s cool with hooking up with Adrien and not Chat I get that too, since there’s no partnership at risk there. But I mean, what are the chances? Best to hope high, and expect low, my friend.

 

N: Meh fair enough. What time this going down?

 

A: Well.. we usually meet up for patrol at nine, so I got like, two hours.

 

N: Then go do the thing we talked about. It’ll help you keep a level head.

 

A: Dude, I still can’t believe THAT was your only girl advice for me.  That was weird, and a bit gross.

 

N: Just trust the Love DJ. You need that post-fap clarity.

  
  
  
  


Nino was fucking gross. Hadn’t he already told the man, what he did with righty (or occasionally lefty) was his own business? Jeez.

 

...On the other hand, if he was all worked up when Ladybug showed up, he’d probably blow it completely.  ...No puns intended… So maybe it wasn’t Bad advice per say. Still doesn’t mean he wanted to hear it.

 

...He was probably going to follow it though.

  
  


Maybe he should’ve been a little less… indulgent. Adrien kind of let his imagination run away with him, he supposed. Perhaps if he’d been a little less.. Uh, involved he’d have noticed her landing on the balcony before the crashing noise.  _ Did she trip over his chair? Oh God did she SEE?. _ He wouldn’t have frantically yanked his pants up, tripping over his covers as he moved towards the window, Forgetting a shirt entirely, to open the window. He might not have forgotten to spray some lysol or something..  Unfortunately, Adrien did all of those things, and now he was absolutely mortified.

 

“L-ladybug?”

  
  
  
  


_ Oh my god, I’m such a pervert. I’m a terrible superhero, and what the hell am I doing oh god why am I just standing here… Oh Wow.. WOW.  Daymnnnnn _

 

Marinette’s head was tilted ever so slightly to the left, matching the curve of his uh…  Her cheeks were burning hot, and her chest was heaving ever so slightly from the extra effort it was taking her to breathe.   _ He’s..uh.. Enthusiastic. _  She could see his lips forming words, curses and what looked like unintelligible noise. Was he actually moaning?  _ OH MY GOD WAS THAT HER NAME? _ That sounded like… Marinette. It couldn’t be. There was no way…

 

She couldn’t do this anymore, she was being such a fucking creep right now. Marinette backed away from the window, and promptly fell ass over teakettle when she tripped over a tanning chair.  _  Fuck _

  
“L-Ladybug?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof that was pretty dirty right there. Hang in there, cuz it gets worse. Or better depending on your viewpoint check at the Explicit version of the chapters when I post them if you're into that some are just going to fill in the blanks, some will be alternate chapters entirely.
> 
> Let me know what you think, y'all know the drill


	9. Oblivious (Emotional Issues)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien has Emotional Issues, completely unrelated to the fact that Ladybug just interrupted his on man good time revue
> 
> Also, Adrien and Nino have no idea that they are Hypocrites

 

He was opening the window, red as a beet, still topless. Thankfully he’d thrown on a pair of sweatpants, but they weren’t exactly the best choice for the occasion possibly, seeing as how they were fairly loose and didn’t exactly hide much… 

 

“H-hey, uh, Ladybug..” Way too high pitched. Come on, Agreste, use that vaunted self control of yours.  He coughed into his fist. “Hey.”  much better  now he didn’t sound like a twelve year old whose voice was cracking for the first time.

 

“Bonjour, monsieur Agreste.” She managed to say through the enormous ball of fluster currently blocking her mind.  “Uh.. I.. It’s nice to meet you?”

 

“Rather more of me than you planned on meeting, I wager?”  He said. Adrien was actually a little bit proud of himself for that. It took every ounce of modelling poise, Agreste confidence, and whatever dregs of Chat Noir he managed to muster just to sound smooth for two seconds, but it managed to break the tension. Ladybug was laughing. ...Pretty hard, actually.   Really hard. Ouch.  “Oh, come on. Now you’re just hurting my feelings.” His lips twisted into a pout.

 

“Heh..heh.. Sorry, Handsome boy. Didn’t mean to.. Uh.. interrupt your  _ alone time. _  I don’t make a habit of spying on people like that?” He flushed at the nickname. Why he flushed, she wasn’t quite sure. He was a famous model, for god’s sake. He had to be called gorgeous on a daily basis.

 

“O-oh? What did you stop by for?”

 

“Business, actually.  Chat Noir’s been doing some Akuma research stuff, and we were wondering why, out of all the people in your class, only you and Marinette Dupain-Cheng haven’t been akuma-tized.”

 

“Oh. Hmm.” He shivered slightly.  “Wanna come inside? It’s pretty freezing”

 

“Uh, sure, why not..” Adrien literally came  _ that _ close to asking if she wanted to sit on his bed.  Then he remembered exactly what he’d been  doing a minute earlier. What she’d caught him doing earlier. He elected to pick a seat as far from that particular part of the room as possible, instead running up the halfpipe and perching on the lip. He gazed down at the superheroine expectantly.  She just jumped, landing next to him neatly and sitting with her legs dangling of the edge.

 

“So...uh”

 

“Yeah. Do you have any idea why you haven’t been turned into a monster yet?”

 

“Yoga.” He deadpanned.

 

“... excuse moi?”

 

“I do a lot of yoga and meditating. Good for the spirit, don’t you know?” Ladybug just cocked an eyebrow at him. “What?”

 

“I’ve spoken to several Akuma victims at great length, mr. agreste-” he shuddered “I meditate’ is definitely not an answer.”

 

“Please don’t call me Mr. Agreste. If you need to call me anything, call me Adrien.”  Ok, that was an interesting reaction? Ladybug mused  “And, alright, fine. Maybe it’s not the yoga.”

 

“Seriously, Adrien. If there’s something that Chat and I need to know that could help the people of Paris…”

 

“Fine.  Fine, okay.  Being Akumatized requires strong negative emotions, right?” She nodded, and gestured for him to continue. “Well, i suppose it helps that I don’t feel any of those, huh?”

 

“...What do you mean? Everyone..”

 

“‘Everyone’ wasn’t raised by Gabriel Agreste.” His voice had a slightly bitter tone to it. “When you are who I have to be, Negative emotions, negative reactions, they cause a scene. They get things taken away.  Well… not things. Privileges. Freedoms.  So, I learned a long time ago, that I needed to maintain a layer, you know? A barrier, between me and all of the things that piss me off, that make me upset or sad.  As long as nothing gets through, I’m fine. Apparently it keeps the nasties out too.  Not exactly something that will help your average Parisian, but it works.” 

 

He’d made a mistake telling Ladybug to come here. He really didn’t like telling anyone things about his life, but he couldn’t lie to Ladybug, and he couldn’t exactly say ‘Oh it’s all thanks to Plagg, my Kwami.’   Instead, she got a half truth.  Honestly, even if he didn’t have a miraculous, he doubted he’d get akuma-tized. The last time he’d felt anything deeply enough for that was long before Hawkmoth appeared.

 

“That… sounds really unhealthy, Adrien.”

 

“Pfffft. It’s necessary. What with being a  _ brand name _ and all.” He said it with the same tone that others would say leper or parasite.  “You’ve met my father, haven’t you Ladybug?”

 

“.. I have”

 

“Did he strike you as an emotional man?”

 

“Not in the slightest.”

 

“Yeah, see. It’s a family tradition.” He said sardonically.  Ladybug opened her mouth to respond, but Adrien beat her to the punch. “So, how’s the superheroing business?”

 

“Uh…  Good? I suppose?”

 

“Good. How’s the pay for something like that? I mean I know it’s probably more of a volunteer thing, but you gotta at least get tips, right?”  

 

“ … I occasionally get a free coffee or a soft pretzel from the street vendor in the park, I suppose that counts as tips” Really? Nobody gave him shit as Chat Noir. That’s just straight up unfair. Not that Adrien couldn’t afford it, but the suit had no pockets for money, and he was literally  _ always _ hungry. Free soft pretzels would be a godsend.  “Why do you ask?”

 

“Well, I figured if I ever got tired of being a model I could quit, go be a superhero for a living. I could live off coffee and soft pretzels alone, and I’d look pretty hot in skintight black leather, don’t you think?” She laughed, and nodded. 

 

“Black leather, huh? What, not a fan of spots?”

 

“Oh, no they definitely look way better on you”

  
  
  


A: So, your advice is terrible, and Ladybug might be completely blind

 

N: my advice is excellent. It always is.\\\

 

A: well, I was following your advice. And Ladybug decided to show up an hour and a half early.

 

N: OMG did she actually walk in on you…

 

A: Nope, probably just saw me through the window. No idea how much she saw. Judging by her reaction, probably a lot.

 

N:oijdsbaflibkjndakj

 

N:kjadhjos

 

N: Sorry, sorry. I’m good now

 

N: just almost suffocated from laughter

 

A: Nino…

 

N: Hey, maybe she didn’t catch you  maybe she was _ watching _

 

A: O.O

 

N: So why is she blind

 

A: I made a joke about wanting to be a superhero, and I asked her how I would look in Black Skintight Leather.

 

A: I mean… for fucks sake

 

N: wow. Smh, no kidding. You might be a little oblivious, bro. But at least if we came face to face with Ladybug’s civilian face you’d know! For crying out loud

 

A: as a friend of mine is so fond of saying.

  
A: Word


	10. Walking on Hot Coals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat has endurance training, directly supervised by Hawkmoth's latest Akuma
> 
> Lady Bug likes to yell at her kitten
> 
> Adrien throws some shade at his father

  
  


He didn’t get another chance to see his Lady again until almost a week had gone by, which was an absolute tragedy. Mostly for Plagg and Nino, who caught the brunt of the “That was awkward and terrible, and now everything’s going to be weird when I see her because I’ll know she caught me”  moping train.

  
  


As it so happened, he got lucky.  There was no chance to be awkward at all, because the the Akuma that brought them together again left no time for though. The next time he saw  the iconic red and black suit that caught his heart was when she was crouched behind an overturned dump truck that was baked and blackened, bathed in flame from a pissed off akuma.   _ What kind of Akuma was Hawkmoth churning out these days? Jesus. Things are getting terrifying _ . 

 

The Akuma in question(The Fire Fighter? Really, how original Hawkmoth) was crouched on top of a bus, cackling. His hands were black, both emitting fire like flamethrowers. The arms and torso of the humanoid shape were glowing red and orange like a coal, and the lower half were covered in torn and singed firefighting pants and boots.  The Akumatized object was pretty obvious to Chat’s eyes. Atop the creature’s face was a Gas Mask, with an oxygen tube dangling freely from the faceplate.

 

Chat dropped to all fours and shot down the street, joining his lady in her improvised shelter. The heat was intense, but luckily Plagg’s suit held the worst of it at bay.

 

“My Lady, are you okay? You aren’t burned, are you?”

 

“No, Chat, I’m fine. I’ve only been here for a few minutes, and I haven’t been stupid enough to go out into that madhouse without you for backup.”

 

“Good. We can’t afford to lose you to an injury like that.”  Chat used his palm to wipe away the dripping perspiration. Wearing black leather never felt like more of a disadvantage then it did just then. “So, do we have a plan?”

 

“Um… Lucky Charm and hope for the best?”

 

“Well, unless it gives you a giant fire extinguisher, you’re going to need a buffer to figure out what to do, right?”  Ladybug gave him a skeptical look. 

 

“You can’t be suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”

 

“Of course I am, My Lady. It’s what I do best.” She smacked him. Actually smacked him.

 

“Chat, you idiot. There’s no way I’m letting you go distract that MONSTER”

 

“My Lady, this is what we do. I go put myself in the line of  _ fire _ , you  use the Lucky Charm. Also I’m pretty sure this dump truck’s like, another minute away from melting into slag, and if it does, we’re screwed.” She gave him a fierce look

 

“Chat, I’m sick of this goddamn self sacrificing streak of yours. Let me use the charm, and we’ll do this together.”

 

“We don’t have  _ time. _ This Akuma is gonna generate casualties if we don’t turn down the heat soon, and you need a buffer to figure your stuff out without being stuck here” All of a sudden the fire cut off.

 

“LADYBUG, COME OUT AND GIVE ME YOUR MIRACULOUS NOW, OR I’M GOING TO SET ALL OF PARIS ABLAZE. COME OUT NOW.”

 

“Ladybug, do your thing the second he turns to focus on me. Find better cover, and use the charm. When you know what you need from me, call it out and I’ll do it. I Won’t. Get. Hit.” Ladybug reached out, to stop him, to embrace him and wish him luck, she didn’t know which, but he was already strolling out to face the Fire Fighter.

 

“Hey, Hot stuff. Afraid you got the wrong superhero here.” Chat smirked, and walked out into the street with his usual suave manner, but Marinette wasn’t fooled in the slightest. She could see how his muscles tensed through the suit everytime the akuma twitched, which it kept doing. It was disturbing to watch. The Akuma looked like a broken clockwork toy, trying to move but unable to.  As if Hawkmoth was directly overriding the Akuma, forcing it to obey his will. 

 

Chat might have been jumpy like a cat, but he forced himself to seem disinterested,

 

“Well well. Chat Noir. My master wants your ugly little ring for his collection. Hand it over before I’m forced to burn that pretty face of yours off.”

 

“Psh. You need to cool it, my friend. We haven’t even fought at all, don’t you think it’s too early for that ultimatum?” The only answer was  a fireball, which Chat effortlessly dodged. “Betcha can’t cook this cat!” He shouted as he dropped to all fours. As Chat ran past the dump truck Marinette could hear him singing under his breath, a song she didn’t recognize..

 

“If you wanna see some action, gotta be the center of attraction.” A fireball passed within inches of him, lighting the tip of Chat’s belt-like tail. “Make sure that they got their eyes on you like the face that you see on every magazine. Bee the center of attention”  She couldn’t hear any more because the sound was drowned out by the roar of flames.  _ Come on, Ladybug. Focus. He’s risking his life to buy you time. Use it right. _

 

“Luck Charm!”  A red and black spotted wrench fell into her hands.  “What am I supposed to do….” She didn’t even get to the end of the sentence before she noticed the Fire Hydrant highlighted at the edge of her peripherie, followed by a large piece of pipe.  Bingo.

  
  


Chat was literally scared out of his mind.  The fireballs and jets barely missed him, each time he ran along the walls of the buildings that lined the street. He’d been singing in English, under his breath for the first few minutes of the fight, but he didn’t have the breath left for that. He didn’t have the energy left over for pretty much anything but dodging. Hawkmoth was Actually trying to kill them this time. If even a single flame hit him his life ( or at least his modelling career) was over, and despite the c’est la vie attitude he might project, Chat  _ really  _ wanted to keep his face as pretty as it started out. Luckily, he’d pretty much calculated the extent of the Akuma’s range. The jets of flame only reached about fifteen yards out from Fire Fighter, and the Fireballs could reach about twice that, but were easier to evade since they  didn’t cover as large of an area.

 

All of a sudden, he caught sight of his lady waving at him from down the street, . She was waving him down the street towards her. Clearly she’d figured it out, and just in time. His limbs felt like lead already, and she had to be running out of energy for her kwami by now. 

 

Chat bolted straight down the street, catcalling the akuma as he went  

 

“Come on, don’t tell me you’re burnt out already? I thought you were going to bring the heat! Right now, you seem more like a candle in the wind, a flash in the pan!” He paused just at the edge of the villain’s range, and fired off as many fire-based insults as he could think of.  The monster was literally steaming with rage, and like finally, Chat achieved his goal.  Like a roman candle, the Akuma victim shot off in his direction, hands blazing like booster rockets.  Smoothly, The black clad teenager rolled aside, letting  it fly past him, directly into a heavy blast of water from the Fire Hydrant Ladybug had been prepping.   As the victim flew past him, Chat snatched the mask off his face and flung it at Ladybug.     The second he saw her crush it beneath her heel he collapsed.

  
  
  


Hawkmoth collapsed into the comfortable armchair in his study. Holding control of a minion like that for that long always made him sick, especially when the victim was so strong willed. Pierre had been a firefighter whose partner died in the line of duty last week. The partner’s wife had been denied her insurance benefits had been denied because his line of work had been deemed an “Unnecessary Risk”or some such nonsense. Pierre’s grief and rage had made him an easy target, but it was against the man’s nature to start fires.  Hawkmoth had to bend his will by force to make him attack the heroes, and hold it there the entire fight. If the akuma had been any less dangerous and powerful, he wouldn’t have bothered with it. 

 

He took out his locket, and stared at the picture of his wife. The only thing that made his guilt ignorable was the thought that none of it mattered. Once the two most powerful Miraculous were his, he could reverse Death Itself.  No matter who died in his quest for power, they could be brought back, and his family would be together again. His beautiful wife would be back, he wouldn’t have to worry about Adrien anymore, because they would have her. His partner, his other half. The grace to his strength, the loving presence to balance his cold authority.  Everything would be better. People like Pierre wouldn’t have to suffer in his new world, so it was okay that they had to suffer a little worse now. 

 

“Nooroo. Go, drink your syrup.  Recharge. We need to be back at full charge as soon as possible for the plan to precede as it’s meant to.”

 

“Yes master” the small kwami responded timidly.

 

It wouldn’t be long now. A matter of weeks instead of months, with the occasional akuma so that old fool Fu didn’t catch on to  his plan, and he’d finally be ready for the Endgame.

  
  
  
  
  


She didn’t know whether to hug him, hit him, or yell at him  for being a crazy idiot. So she promptly did all three. Marinette hit Chat with a flying tackle hug the second they landed on the roof, and promptly started  berating him.

 

“Chat, you IDIOT! Are you burned anywhere??”

 

“Mon coeur, I don’t have a single whisker out of place!” She reached over his shoulder and tugged on the singed remnants of his tail

 

“Liar.”

 

“Oh, merde, I was hoping the Miraculous Cure would put that back…”  He grinned anyway. “Still, that was pretty awesome right? I’m getting damn good at this.”

 

“Chat why do you always act so…  dispensible?”

 

“Because I am. You fix, I distract, haven’t we been over this already?” They rehashed the same fight every time. 

 

“Chat, did you see what the street looked like before I fixed it? That could have been YOU.”

 

“Yeah, and a year ago maybe it would have been, my lady. But I’m not a kitten anymore. I’m not the same Chat Noir that got hypnotized or trapped once a week anymore.” 

 

“Just because you’re less clumsy now doesn’t mean—”

 

“Not less clumsy, Ladybug. Better. I’ve got a better handle on my bad luck.   Anyway. If Master Fu can’t convince me to stop, you probably can’t either.” That earned him a shocked look.

 

“You’ve been to see Master Fu? When?”

 

“Oh, a while ago.. Anyway. He agreed with my reasoning, and told me if I’m not going to stop, I need to get  _ better. _ ”  Chat  pointed at her. “Ladybug, you need to get out of here. Unless you want to finish this conversation in person.”

 

“This isn’t over, minou.” He sighed, seemingly resigned

 

“Of course it’s not. You never stop yelling at me for doing my job.  I’ll see you on patrol, my lady.”

  
  
  
  


When he arrived home that day, Adrien wasn’t expecting to meet anyone. He honestly expected to just go straight to the dining room, shovel down a plate of whatever the chef had prepared for the night, and go to bed. That’s all he wanted. No Nathalie, no schedule talk, just food (albeit a tiny amount) then bed. The last thing Adrien expected was Nathalie waiting for him by the door, tapping her foot and waiting for him.

 

“Adrien. Your father is waiting in the dining room for you.”

 

“He’s… what?”  This wasn’t how the Agreste household worked. They didn’t  _ eat dinner _ together. Gabriel Agreste saw his son when it was completely unavoidable, and he certainly didn’t contrive a meeting with him. Something’s wrong.

 

“I said, your father is waiting for you in the dining room. He apparently has things to discuss with you”   _ Fuck me. _  Adrien simply nodded and walked inside the large ornate dining room doors.

  
  


Gabriel was distracted. His last endeavor had been a failure. He thought perhaps he was getting a little extreme. If he wasn’t carefully measured with his plans, they would eventually attract the attention of higher powers, and Ladybug and Chat Noir wouldn’t be his only problem.  He’d covered his tracks carefully, so he wasn’t particularly worried about being caught, but still  A federal investigation could end up being.. Troublesome.   He continued eating his dinner as he mulled over future plans. He’d have to cut back.  One akuma a week, of moderate strength should be enough to keep the ‘heroes busy while he hunted for the final pieces of his plan.

 

Gabriel hadn’t noticed his son coming in until the boy had dropped down in a chair some ways away from him, immediately opening the platter that was keeping his dinner warm.  It was probably salmon or the like, the boy seemed to have an unnatural taste for fish lately.

 

“So how was your day?” Gabriel  asked absently, not really listening to the boy’s explanation. He needed to find time in his busy designing and administrating schedules to get away to the sanctuary for at least an hour every day from now on. He could ask Nathalie to find him the time, but she’d need an explanation he couldn’t give her. That would make her a loose end to be tied or snipped, and Gabriel disliked those. 

  
  


“…. And then I decided that I was going to quit modeling altogether and run away to join the circus. I’ve definitely got the build and the athletic skill for it…”

 

“Mmmm I suppose you expect me to design you some sort of spandex outfit?  You’ll be wanting something red and polka dotted, judging by your room, no?” Adrien flushed slightly at that statement (he still showed far too much emotion for their line of business, really)  but forged on.

 

“So you were at least partially listening.”

 

“ I have a lot on my mind, Adrien”

  
“Then don’t ask, Father. There’s no need for you to pretend to care.” Gabriel didn’t allow himself to flinch outwardly at his son’s word choice, but they resonated in the back of his mind.  They sounded so much like the words  _ she _ had spoken before she left


	11. Felix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien upsets his father, and himself kind of
> 
> Chat and Ladybug learn about their predecessors- or at least Chats

_ “Gabriel, I’m sick of the lying.” _

_ “I don’t know what you mean. I’ve never once lied to you. Never. You’re the one person I don’t lie to. EVER” _

 

_ “Then why? Why do you keep pretending to care?!” _

  
  


The second the words left Adrien’s mouth there was a shift in his father’s demeanor immediately. No outward reaction to it, of course, his father acted like… How did Nino put it? “A robot in a human suit”? But Adrien could tell it made an impact. He hadn’t honestly meant to, he’d only meant that there was no point in Gabriel asking about his day when he clearly had more.. Important things on his mind.  But now that he’d said it, Adrien couldn’t bring himself to take the words back. They felt so fitting.   

 

He knew his father didn’t care about him the way “normal” parents did. He’d seen that the few times he was able to sneak over Marinette or Nino’s houses.   To Gabriel, he was two things. An employee (more like an asset, if he was honest), and the last remaining part of  _ her. _ He was fairly sure his father had never wanted a child. What would a man like Gabriel Agreste want with a baby?

 

Maybe his mother was the one who had wanted him?  It made Adrien feel better to think that. To believe that someone  _ had _ wanted him to exist.  He could barely remember his mother by now, though. All he had to go by was pretty pictures, and he of all people knew how easily pictures could lie. After all, he looked happy in most of his.

  
  
  
  
  


Nino was absolutely freezing. It was probably his own fault, honestly. He should have grabbed to hoodie on his way to the roof.  Where the hell was that kid? He’d received the  request for a meet-up “At the Usual Spot” half an hour ago.

 

“Sorry, bro. Nathalie would not leave me alone for the last twenty freakin minutes.”

 

“No problem.” Nino paused his music, and patted the stone wall he was sitting on. “Come pop a squat and tell papa Nino what’s wrong.”

 

“I… I said something to may father tonight, and I think it actually hurt him…”

 

“And you’re absolutely sure the man has feelings to hurt?” Nino didn’t hold grudges, what are you talking about? He just… He knew the extent of Adrien’s home life. He saw How the boy got gradually thinner as time went on last year, he knew that the Model life was taking a huge toll on Adrien’s health. Gabriel Agreste either didn’t see that or didn’t care, so he wasn’t getting into Nino’s good books anytime soon.

 

“I-I told him he didn’t have to pretend to care. At dinner, after he acted like he was listening to how my day was…  I didn’t mean it like that at all when I said it, but.. I kind of realized later that he didn’t? Doesn’t?” Chat hung his head and breathed out. He wasn’t going to make a scene, he wasn’t going to cry about something as trivial as this. He’d known that for years.

 

“Bro..” Nino’s heart ached for his beautiful friend. It wasn’t right, for someone as fun and amazing as Adrien Agreste to be stuck with the people he was surrounded by. Gorilla was the only one in the entire household who actually earned any sort of redemption. He tried to make things better for the Agreste heir. Every single other person in the house turned a blind eye, didn’t give two shits about him. Including the Head Bastard.  “I… I know it’s unbelievably shitty to know something like that. And I really do wish I could help. But you.. You can’t bottle up your feelings like that. It’s cool to cry, dude.”

 

“Nino, I’ve been bottling for years.  If I take the lid off now, I’m either going to cataclysm my house down, just explode.” The cat eyes flicked to the sky overhead.   “Thank you for the talk. I promise, we’ll have a real one soon, but I’m going to be late for patrol.” And the hero was gone. Again.  

 

“Friggin Chat Noir, dragging me up to the roof for an hour for a five minute conversation.  Fucking Gabriel Agreste, Fathering skills of a friggin Sea Bass”  He stormed back down the stairs, throwing his headphones back over his ears.

  
  
  
  


“What do you mean, you don’t think he’s anything like Felix? Who’s Felix??  What does that even mean, Tikki?” The small red kwami sighed in disappointment.

 

“I didn’t mean to say that, Marinette. Forget I said anything.”

 

“There’s no chance of that now! Come on, Tiki. Just explain? Please??”

 

“Fiiine.  The last Chat Noir wasn’t chosen by Master Fu, he found the ring by accident. When he discovered that the ring was pure bad luck, he tried to reject his duty, so Plagg locked the ring on his hand. He flirted with my chosen constantly because he knew the only way to remove the ring was a kiss from Lady Luck—  Ladybug.”

 

“Oh my god, you don’t think—   No, there’s no way MY Chat would be like that! He seems like he enjoys being CHat so muchhhh.”  But the concept was burned into her brain now, and all she could do was think  _ Maybe. Maybe Chat doesn’t love me at all, maybe it’s all a trick to get rid of his bad luck.  Wait, why should I care if Chat really loves me or not? _ But the idea still gave her a bubbling feeling of anxiety in her stomach, and the more she thought about it the more her insecurities convinced her it might be true. After all, who could possibly love her, even with the fancy suit and the big ‘heroics’.  

 

“Does… does that happen a lot, tiki?”

 

“Um… more often than we’d like to admit. The destruction Miraculous disappears more often than any other because of the nature of its luck, and most people that aren’t chosen(and some that are) can’t deal with the effects. It’s not as easy to be Chat Noir as it is to be Ladybug. Sometimes Plagg has to take extreme measures”

 

“Shit.”

 

“I’m sure he isn’t like that though! Chat seems so much… sunnier than most”

 

“More ridiculous, maybe..” Marinette grumbled, which made Tiki giggle

 

“That too.”

  
  
  
  


“Hey, Chaton, can I ask you something?”   It had been a long patrol, and quieter than most. Sure they couldn’t talk about their lives, but they usually found something to say to each other. Ladybug seemed like she was trying to outrun something tonight, which confused Chat. That was his job, wasn’t it?

 

“Sure, Bugaboo, what’s up?”

 

“Can you take your ring off?”

 

“Why would I ever want to?”

 

“Chat, don’t avoid the question.”  He hadn’t been. That was honestly his answer. Chat had never once tried to take his ring off. 

 

“Okay, what brought this on?

 

“Tiki told me about Felix, and how he.. Couldn’t take the ring off without a kiss.” Adrien held up a claw, gesturing for his Lady to hold on a moment

 

_ Plagg, what the hell’s she talking about?? _

 

_ Felix was the previous Chat Noir. He tried to quit on me, so I sealed the ring on his finger, and told him the only way to take it off was a kiss from Ladybug.  He.. wasn’t the best person who could have been Chat Noir, but he wasn’t a bad person. Just selfish.  _ Adrien actually chuckled at that

 

_ Hypocrite. _

 

_ Oh, shut up and quit bugging me before I break your transformation.” _

 

“My Lady?”

 

“Yes, Chat?

 

“Turn around.” She gave him an absolutely bewildered look. “Just.. trust me, and turn around. No peeking” She spun to face the other side of the dark rooftop  “ Good. Now, hold out your hand.” She obeyed. A flash of green light illuminated the rooftop, and she felt a warm metal ring drop into her open palm. 

 

“That’s the first time that ring’s been off my hand in two years, Ladybug. I’ve never actually tried taking it off.” Marinette felt a hand on her shoulder, ungloved, and had to fight the urge to turn and see who it was _. Bad Marinette, you’re the one who insisted on these secrets, listen to your own advice! Stay this way.    _ “I love this job. It is the best thing in my life, bar none. Here I get to be who I want to be, who I feel like being. As Chat Noir I’m free. Not to mention I’m always in the best of company.” She could actually hear the wink in his voice.

 

“O-okay. I’m glad Chaton. I didn’t think you’d be… like Felix, but i couldn’t get the idea out of my head for some reason.”  She closed her eyes, and thrust the ring in his direction. “You should probably get back in costume.” All of a sudden his mouth was next to her ear, and she could feel the heat of his lithe, toned body right behind her, not quite touching, but close enough for her to feel his presence. 

 

“You could look, you know. It would only take a second, and I’d never know you did. You’d recognize me, I bet.” His voice was strange, husky and low and almost challenging. Heat rushed to her cheeks, and she was so glad he didn’t have night vision right then “I’m not hard to recognize these days..”

 

“I-I..” He chuckled. 

 

“Plagg, claws out!”  And the moment was gone, and so was he.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short Chapter


	12. Fistful Of Paintballs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nino set up a proper birthday Party for Adrien this year, bypassing his father entirely
> 
> It's paintball. As it turns out, Paintball changes people.
> 
> (This chapter is kind of inspired by, and an homage to the TV show Community, and the paintball episodes they did)

 

They were ready.    This was it, everything from here on out counted, for real. Adrien fingered the black plastic guards of the pistols that hung at his waist, and nodded at Nino, who nodded at Kim, who nodded at Max. Max nodded at Ivan, and Ivan nodded at Nathanael.  Time to go. The horn sounded, and they stalked out into the wooded, hilly terrain, guns at the ready.  

 

Adrien and Nino were ready. They had a plan to handle Marinette. She was an absolute monster, renowned for  for her utter lack of mercy. Nino split off, finding himself a good vantage point to take advantage of his weapon’s range and accuracy. Adrien adjusted his body armor and his helmet (black full head and face guard, with green lines painted across the face, and a glowing green visor. Literally the best his significant resources could buy)  And drew his twin pistols.  Time to hunt.

  


Of course, it was just his luck to come across Marinette first. He flipped up the glowing visor, knowing that his looks might give him the advantage.

 

“Hey, Mariii. How’s it going?” He singsonged.  

 

“H-h-hey Adrien… “ _No._  She scolded herself. _This is war, I can’t let myself go soft just because of a pretty face._  “You ready to become swiss cheese, pretty boy?”

 

“That’s big talk, Cheng! Think your guns can cash the checks your mouth is writing?” _Holy crap, they were different. Marinette is a completely new animal on the battlefield. I-it’s actually kind of hot?_

 

“Of course! I’m the best goddamn warrior here.”

 

“Well, well— “   A shot rang out, and Adrien clutched his chest, sprawling out onto the grass.  “Aww, fuck they shot me. They actually shot me.”  Just like that, Marinette’s cool completely broke.

 

“Omigod, Adrien are you okay?”  He was laying there, moaning in pain a little bit.

 

“Marinette, c-come here. I need you to.. Pass on my last words. Please..”  Marinette scolded herself for her weakness, but she couldn’t help it. Stupid mercy. Stupid weakness to that golden hair.

 

“What is it, Adrien?”

 

“Look.. look at… my chest.” The spot Adrien had been holding moments ago was painted bright red, and her stomach sank at the sight.

 

 _Whump Whump Whump Whump._ Marinette felt a sharp pain in her side, where Adrien had just shot her repeatedly

 

“FUCK!!”  

 

“HAHA! No friendly fire!”  He jumped up. “You’re out Mari. Sorry, I really do feel bad for misleading you, but as they say, all’s fair in love and Paintball.”  The two teams, boys and girls, and specifically used different colors for that reason. Boy’s had to be shot with green to get out, girls had to be shot with red.

 

“Owww, my fuckin shit goddamn piss ass—  Adrien, jeez, that was point blank.”  He had the decency to look abashed.

 

“Oh crap, Mari, I’m sorry.  Fuck, I didn’t mean to actually hurt you.”

 

“No.. It’s c-cool.. I’ll just have some.. Reminders, tomorrow.” Marinette got up and walked back to the “out” zone.

 

All of a sudden Adrien’s earpiece squelched  “ _Got Alya coming in on you. She’s hugging too tight to cover, I don’t have a clear shot.”_  This might not actually be war, but Adrien and Nino were treating it that way.  It was Adrien’s birthday, and by god Nino way making this one fun.  He’d set the entire thing up, planned it with Nathalie, surprisingly enough, so that Adrien would have the entire day off and could sneak off to play. The only stipulation was that Adrien would have to wear a full set of armor and a helmet so that Nathalie and his Father wouldn’t know what he’d actually snuck off _to play_.  Adrien had been practicing his shot with paintball pistols on Parisian rooftops for weeks after patrol.

 

“Stick to the plan, DJ. I handle the close up, you pick them off from the hill.”  Adrien had went out of his way to buy the best paintball guns money could buy. He got one paintball sniper for each team, a bunch of normal rifles, a handful of pistols, and everyone was allowed to bring whatever they had themselves.   Surprisingly, at least to him, the girls team had way more paintball experience than the boys.

 

Alix did competitive paintball on weekends with Kim, Rose and Juleka had gone together a few times and apparently loved it, and Marinette and her father had a Father’s Day tradition of going  to the course and playing like five or six matches. Nino had gone with them in sixth grade, and he said that Marinette was an absolute monster at the game. Hence the con.  He didn’t know why he was her Achilles Heel, but damned if he wasn’t going to take advantage of it.  On the boy’s team, only Kim and Nino had done it before. Adrien didn’t count himself practicing on rooftops as experience.

 

“ _Time to wake up, buddy. She’s coming around the bend.”_ Adrien heard footsteps.

 

Adrien drew both his guns, and trained them on a tree in the direction of the sound, and loosed a shot.  Red paint splattered against the bark, and he heard Alya’s return fire

 

“You, know, Alya. The second you  poke your head out, Nino’s gonna paint it, right?

 

“Good thing I’m not here for Nino, then. Lila’s on that. I’m here to eliminate the birthday boy.   Check this out.” Alya ducked out from behind the tree, staying just out of his range, and held something up.   _What is that??_    He squinted, and all of a sudden it swam into view. It was—  

 

“Holy crap, Paint bomb!”   Adrien dove back, seeking the shelter of the hill behind him as he fired both pistols at Alya, praying that at least one would make it through before she kamikaze’d him.  The splatter from the paint bomb’s detonation missed him by the grace of God and Ladybug, and when he poked his head out, Alya stood in a green clearing, painted in christmas colors.  

 

“ YES! Two for two, buddy! Your girlfriend is out!”  He ran into the woods towards Nino’s position, intending to switch their posts. The noise from Alya’s little _strategy_ was sure to bring the girl’s team down on their heads.

 

He sprinted up the hill, ducking into the side brush when he saw the post abandoned. The rifle was set,  the stash was there, but no Nino. Adrien might have freaked out jussssst a little bit at that.   Nino was the only one that knew Plagg was hiding in the Ammo bag, well away from any actual danger, but if he was gone— He frantically checked the bag (Plagg was inside, sleeping on a little bed of paintballs and half eaten cheese).  With that concern out of the way, he scooped up the rifle, and hunkered down.  He needed to find his partner.

 

Adrien hit the call button on his headset, and heard an echo from up the path further.  Nino was standing out in the open, unpainted..  

 

“Sorry, buddy.  I tried..”  A paintball hit the ground by Nino’s feet.

 

“If you want your boyfriend to escape unpainted, you’ll throw out your guns!”

 

“Sorry, Lila, I think this little trap of yours might put a damper on your chances with me”  She’d been hitting on him mercilessly ever since her arrival. Honestly, it kind of reminded him of how he acted like towards Ladybug, which… honestly made him feel kind of weird. Not that he hated Lila’s flirting… Just.. he tried not to encourage it either.

 

“Sorry, hot stuff. Nothing personal. You’re the only dangerous one left out here. Alix and Kim got eachother out almost instantly. Rose and Juleka took out Max and Nate already. I got Ivan myself. Just Me, Juleka and Rose, against you two. You two are the boy’s team’s last hope, and _DJ here_ is your only weakness.” As she ranted, Adrien was tapping into his own inner Chat Noir.  Creeping slowly through the underbrush, he used his enhanced hearing to pinpoint her most likely position.  Once he was behind it, he could…” Lila burst from the woods, grabbing nino and spinning.  

 

“You think I can’t hear that rustling, _Adri-Kins._ ” She mocked.  Shit, she really is sly like a fox.  “Good luck shooting me with him in the way.”  Adrien was really glad he’d brought Nino’s rifle.  He unslung it from his back, and quietly set up the stand.  Now that he knew where she was, he had ONE shot.   Lila placed her piston to Nino’s head, angled up so that it looked threatening. Three.  Two. One.

 

The red ball sped off almost silently, and hit the italian teen in the calf. The second it struck, Nino dove forward, rolling off the path just in time. Lila might have gotten out, but the game was far from over. The green paintballs that slammed into the spot Nino’d just occupied proved that.  Nino’s hand on his shoulder showed that his friend was back and ready to rock.

 

“Let’s do this, bro. Only Rose and Juleka left.”

  
  


This was it. The spot of the final Showdown.    Rose and Juleka had apparently set up an ambush for them on the obstacle field, which was set up like a professional Paintball Arena.  It was a bowl like depression, with foam blocks, shields and columns scattered around as cover.  Rose was obviously on the other paintball rifle, and Juleka was in the bowl with him, which was just fine. Adrien just had to keep moving, try to give nino enough time to line up a shot on Jules. Then they’d worry about  Rose later.  Speaking of Rose, he HAD to keep his head down. That last shot only missed him by inches.

 

“HEY ROSE! NICE TRAP YOU SET UP HERE!  TOO BAD YOU AREN’T THE ONLY SNIPER IN THE GAME!” Hopefully that would make her duck down for a minute, give him time to find new cover

 

“Yeah, and Lila isn’t the only trickster, apparently. Marinette told us how you got her on her way out. That was a dirty trick!” Rose chirped. _Okay, so that’s where she is, now where’s Juleka?_

 

“DJ, you got that?”

 

“ _Yeah, I have a bead on her position. If we get Juleka, and you can get her to stand up, game’s over.”_ Almost done. Ardien was absolutely in love with this sport. He hadn’t felt like Adrien since they got here, which automatically made this the best birthday ever. Because today he got to be Chat Noir.  “ _Speaking of Juleka, looks like she’s trying to sneak around you on the right.”_ Perfect.  He stayed stock still, and let her sneak, until he could hear the footsteps. She was behind the block off in his periphials on the left.  He took careful aim.

 

“You’re right, Rose. That was a dirty trick.  Kinda like… sneaking up on people!” He threw himself flat as Juleka jumped out, emptying her hopper in his direction. Really, the spray and pray was overkill. All it took was one. Well. Placed. Paintball.   Juleka almost roared in frustration, chucking her gun down.

 

“NO! JULEKA!!!”  Holy crap, was that Rose??  Adrien turned towards the source of the earsplitting shriek.  She was acting like they’d actually shot her girlfriend. Rose had abandoned all attempts at cover or sniping, and was going full “American Action Hero”  She was furiously rapid firing the rifle, pinning Adrien down behind his meager cover, which of course made her a perfect target for Nino.  Two seconds later, She was out, and Nino was pounding one hand on his back and crowing about their victory.

 

Two seconds after that, both boys felt the sting of paint hitting their backs. Nino turned around in horror to see quiet little Mylene, standing with a gun in her shaking hands.  Quiet little Mylene, who’d hid the entire match, and come out just in time to win it for the girls.

  
  
  


“DUDE, where did that even  COME from?” Kim yelled at Adrien as they sat in a snack bar an hour later, covered in paint.  “Quiet, polite Adrien Agreste was nowhere to be found! Instead we got the flipping Predator. And Eagle Eye over here!” He clapped an arm over Nino’s shoulder and pulled him in for a rough hug.  Adrien never wanted this party to end, he mused as he went over to congratulate Mylene, homemade birthday cake slice in hand. This was perfect

 

“Soooo, Marinette, turns out Adrien isn’t quite the perfect angel after all?” Marinette was a bit sore about being the first girl to be eliminated. Even if her plan with Lila worked, making the dynamic duo forget about Mylene completely, even if she got her posthumous revenge, she was still steamed. It was her competitive nature.

 

“Tell me about it!” Mari grumbled. “What a jerkkkkk” Alya couldn’t help but giggle. Maybe thinking Adrien was a jerk would make it easier for Marinette to talk to him on Monday, but she wasn’t holding her breath.

 

“So, did he make you reconsider asking him out with that trick?”

  
“W-what, no, I….  Hmmph. No, but it did make me want revenge. I’m gonna go challenge him to a rematch.”  Alya smirked. _Well played, Agreste. It’s actually working_ .   As Marinette stormed over to the model, he caught Alya’s eye.  She started a slow clap in his direction, to with he inclined his head   _Well Played indeed._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All Hail Mylene, Accidental Paintball Champion 2K16
> 
> (By the way, Adrien specifically got his helmet to look like the Isaac Clark from Dead Space because he's a humongous nerd, in case anyone was having trouble picturing it.)


	13. Torn Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hawkmoth starts making decisions that make no sense to anyone but him
> 
> Adrien's dying to know why (and also ACTUALLY dying)
> 
> Ladybug learns some things she never wanted to know

  
  


They were falling.  They were falling  _ fast. _  Adrien could feel Plagg straining to keep the transformation together, but he knew full well that he wouldn’t make it all the way down. Ladybug had already used her Lucky charm, and his Cataclysm was long since spent. The Akuma had the Yoyo, and had actually  _ snapped his baton. _  His nearly Indestructible baton.  The Demolisher had caught a lucky hit, hurling Chat off of the top of the Eiffel Tower, and his Lady had jumped after him  _ like an idiot. _ She completely forgot that she didn’t have a yoyo at the moment, that both transformations were about to wear off, and dove after him.

 

So, here they were.   He could hear Plagg’s voice in his mind, yelling at him to find some way, anyway to stop the fall. Honestly, it was kind of touching. Not like the miraculous would break in the fall, which meant that the only thing here at risk was him. Which meant the little black jerk actually  _ cared _ about him.  A pity, since he was fucked, but it was nice to know.

 

The air kept rushing past, and the beeps for LB were getting more frantic, and he knew her transformation was going to wear off first. She wasn’t going to make it even halfway to the hard stop at the bottom.  So, Chat did what he always did. What he had to do.

 

“I’m sorry My Lady.”

 

“C-chat? What..” He interrupted her frantic search for a way out, first with an apology, then with a kick.  Both feet, curling up to his chest and kicking Ladybug full force in the chest. It was going to hurt like a bitch, but it had the intended effect. His Lady flew back towards the tower, just as they were plummeting past the last observation deck, smashing through the metal guard rails. An instant later, he saw a flash of pink, and a black haired face lean out over the hole he’d made and scream his name.  

 

Every muscle in his body relaxed. Ladybug was safe.  He was okay now. He was cool with this. Someone else could look after his Lady now.

 

_ In a dark room across town,  dimly lit by a single wide window, a man in a metal helmet and a purple suit was screaming.  _

 

_ “I-  No. It could be him. I can’t let him fall. Not until I’m sure.” His face lit up in a purple moth shape. “Demolisher. Grab Chat Noir before he hits the ground.” _

 

_ “I can easily grab the miraculous off of his hand once the cat is dead, Master.” _

 

_ “NO! My plans require his survival.” _

 

_ “...yes master” _

 

_ Hawkmoth collapsed heavily into a chair. If it wasn’t Adrien, he could dispose of the Chat later. And if it was... _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_ “Hey Plagg.” _

 

_ “No no NO NO NO. Don’t you dare, Adrien. Shut the fuck up and find a way out. DOn’t you Dare.” _

 

_ “Sorry, I gotta. I’m not making it out of this one, buddy. Sorry I wasn’t better. Good luck on the next one.” _

 

_ “Don’t you fucking dare, you insolent kit-  LOOK UP!”  _ Plagg’s mental shout echoed, and Chat’s eyes narrowed..  All of a sudden, a metal cable… A crane hook? Wrapped itself around his leg.    A metal cable attached to the arm of a massive man covered in construction yellow and rebar that was plummeting after him at terrifyingly high speed. The cable yanked his leg so hard he was sure it was going to pull out of his hip socket, reeling him into the Akuma’s hands.

 

The thing’s huge metal boots slammed into the pavement, shattering it, and Adrien felt  the monster’s huge metal glove tighten enough to make his ribs creak.  Just as it happened, his ring gave its last beep, and his suit dissolved around him. Plagg passed out, falling into his pocket.

 

“You know, it would have been more  _ constructive _ to just let me die and collect the ring later, right?”

 

“Hawkmoth requires you alive for his plans to continue.” as the words passed the metallic creature’s lips, his face lit up in purple.   Hawkmoth was seeing through its eyes. Hawkmoth could see his face. His goddamn famous face, plastered all over Paris on billboards and magazines.   Adrien’s blood ran icy, and his mind raced. He needed a way out now.  He had to disappear, now.  Preferably with the Akuma in hand, but that chances of that were non-existent now.

  
 He didn’t even have a weapon…  Wait.  In his back pocket, there was something   A long shot, but something.  A small, concentrated cylinder of pepper spray that the Gorilla insisted he carry for self defense, since the school refused to allow the bodyguard access to Adrien’s class.  Luckily the mechanical man was distracted, bickering with his master via weird telepathy.  One hand wormed its way down to the can, while  the other one covered his face. He turned his face away, acting as though he was trying to hide his face.  Couldn’t pepperspray himself. The jig would be completely up then. The second the purple mask faded, Adrien let loose. The entire can, shot directly into the monster’s eyeholes.

 

The screaming, and the immediately loosened hand, let him know he’d done well. Chat immediately dropped five feet to the ground.  The large back hoe shovel hand hurtling towards him to crush his malnourished civilian ass clued him in that perhaps he’d made a poor tactical decision. He screwed his eyes shut and prepared to die for the second time in as many minutes but the blow never struck.  The akuma was standing above him, paralyzed by glowing purple energy. 

 

Okay, so Hawkmoth was serious about needing me alive.  Alrighty then.  Adrien ducked under the massive fist and darted forward. He couldn’t quite match Chat’s agility and speed out of suit, but he was an athlete, and years of hero-ing had left him with some pretty formidable skills of his own. Grabbing the keychain and the carabiner off the akuma’s belt, Adrien yanked it loose and ran.

 

Not a second too soon, it seemed, since the purple light flickered and went out.   Hawkmoth must have ran out of time on his transformation, maybe? Either way, the hydraulic limb slammed into the ground with enough force to rupture a water main.  A shiver ran down Adrien’s spine.  _ There but for the grace of Hawkmoth go I. _ A troubling sentiment all around.

 

A moment later, a red blur shot down from the tower, kicking the Akuma in the chest as it went, and Adrien was airbourne

 

“Adrien. You.. you didn’t happen to see what happened to Chat, did you?”  Ladybug asked, panting. She sounded.. Scared. Panicky.   Adrien’s heart literally broke at the sound. He held up the keys from the monster’s belt.

 

“I have the Akuma, My Lady.”

  
  
  


The keys were smashed, and the akuma was cleansed.  Marinette was on autopilot. Her brain couldn’t process what had just happened  Adrien Freakin Agreste had just called her His Lady.Adrien was Ch- NOPE!!!  Not thinking about that. He can’t be. Adrien Agreste definitely didn’t try to kiss her hand every time he saw her. Adrien Agreste certainly didn’t flirt with her everytime they met on the rooftops of Paris.  And he Positively, ABSOLUTELY, didn’t like making puns that goddamn much. No way. The red-suited heroine turned to her crush.

 

“Now.. uh.. WHen you say ‘My Lady’...”  two seconds later, her brain froze up again.   Adrien Agreste, the sweetest, most innocent boy in the world dropped into a languid pose and started  _ punning. _

 

“Purr-don me, My Lady but are you fur real? You don’t recognize your clawsome partner? I don’t look Fur-miliar at all?”  Marinette’s first instinct won the race out of her brain, beating rational thought by a mile.  Unfortunately, her first instinct was Right Hook. Meaning, she punched him. Hard

 

“Jesus, LB. I’m outta costume over here!”

 

“WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!? KICKING ME AWAY LIKE THAT YOU STUPID STRAY! AND TELLING ME YOUR IDENTITY?? I SWEAR TO GOD CHAT, NEXT TIME I SEE YOU IN COSTUME I’M GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS ACROSS PARIS!”

 

“I had to save you, M’Lady.” He said simply, rubbing the spot on his arm where her fist connected.  “And I let the cat out of the bag because there was a Moth in it”

 

“I DON”T CA- Wait.. what?” The blonde looked solemn. “Chaton, what does that mean?”

  
“Plagg couldn’t hold on. The only reason I’m alive at all right now is because the Akuma caught me. It had the purple outline on it’s face when my transformation gave way. Hawkmoth knows who I am.”

 

 

 

 

 

Gabriel Agreste sat in a dark office, with a glass of brandy in one hand and a cigarette in the other.   He didn't drink or smoke. He'd quit both when his wife got pregnant with their first son. But this.. this called for the emergency stash in his desk. He'd torn open the pack of american cigarettes with trembling hands, and poured the brandy on several important designs attempting to get it into his glass.  Now the bottle was half drained, and he'd burned through six cigarettes before the shaking stopped.

 

Adrien was Chat Noir. 

 

And he couldn't tell him that he knew without giving himself away, and he couldn't stop Akuma from attacking him like that every time.

 

There was a very good chance that Nooroo's demons would hurt his son. Or kill him. and there was nothing Gabriel could do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I totally didn't tag my reveal because I wanted it to be a secret.
> 
> I feel like this story is going SUPER well. Lemme know what you think.


	14. Real Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry about the terrible title.
> 
> Ladybug learns why this story is called wrong mask.
> 
> Nino is the best person ever. He's an actual Jesus among Bros
> 
> Alya Cesaire doesn't think things through

_ “ _ _ I was going to interview him next. I could let you go instead if you like?”   _ Ladybug intoned sarcastically as he landed behind her.  She was desperately clinging onto her Ladybug facade, because Ladybug had no reason to be freaking out about Adrien Agreste.  It was slipping. Every few seconds a small voice in the back of her head would scream “ _ that’s Adrien. Adrien Agreste is-”  _ then she would squash it mercilessly. Now was not the goddamn time

 

“Well, I mean, I did have to maintain my cover, Milady.”  Chat said unconvincingly. “My house is under surveillance..” 

 

“Suuuure, Chaton. Let’s go with that. His hand scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, a gesture that was just so goddamn Adrien, and the little voice in her head slipped out again. For god’s sake, she’d KISSED ADRIEN AGRESTE.And he flirted with her CONSTANTLY. And...oh shit HawkMoth knew.   

 

_ Hawkmoth knew. _

 

That thought was probably the one thing keeping her from running straight to her room and hiding under her bed for a year just then. They needed to talk so badly, and she needed to freak out, and she really needed to ask him  _ how. _ How in God’s name did he pull off being Chat Noir with the eighty million other activities and lessons he had to take? But Ladybug wasn’t supposed to know that.

 

“So.. uh.. We should probably talk about this, right?”  Adrien said, sucking in  a deep breath  “Uh.. for starters, I suppose., um.. I’m aware this probably wasn’t what you were really expecting so.. I’m sorry.”

 

“For what?”  Now Marinette was confused.  Her Chaton was never apologetic, it was one of his defining traits. He just  _ was. _  And what Adrien could possibly have to apologize for, she couldn’t comprehend.  Juxtaposing the two people was going to give her a migraine, she could already feel it coming

 

“If  _ this”  _ A flash of green light, and Adrien Agreste stood in front of her in all of his glory. “is… I don’t know, disappointing? That the guy you had a crush on turned out to be  _ me _ ”

 

“I’m not disappointed, minou. Just… confused I guess. I didn’ expect your civilian persona to seem so.. Perfect. Composed, well dressed. I was kind of expecting more leather.And I really didn’t expect the nicest boy I knew and the most… infuriating one to be one and the same” Chat visibly shuddered.

 

“My Lady, I.. Please don’t say that. I hate that word”  She  quickly reviewed her statement mentally

 

“What.. what word, chaton?”

 

“Perfect. I hate it. Perfect sucks”  He gestured to his outfit, and his perfectly coiffed hair. “ _ This _ sucks.  Chat Noir is who I am. Just about everything else is for the cameras, for my father’s brand. Out of everyone, you’re the last person I would ever want to see me as  _ that.   _ And If I’m the nicest, most perfect boy you know, than you don’t know me, My Lady _ ” _

 

“What’s that even mean, Adrien?”

 

“I’m probably the most well behaved. The best actor. The biggest pushover, most willing to toe the company line, pretend to be someone I’m not for the sake of Gabriel Agreste’s stupid reputation.” The blonde was rambling. He seemed so.. wounded , when she called him perfect.  “Adrien Agreste is nothing. A void, a homunculus built by a lonely kid trying to earn his father’s approval.  _ He’s _ the mask, and I put him on every time I wake up, and he doesn’t come off until the black one goes on.” Ladybug opened her mouth, to respond or protest, but Chat cut her off.  “So… how the hell are we going to handle the ‘Hawkmoth knows who I am and wants me alive for some reason’ Problem, my lady?”

 

“I… I have no idea.”

* * *

  
  


8:22

 

Nino:  Dude

 

Nino: DUDE, 

 

Nino: I swear to god, you better not be off getting Laid-ybug rn, and not TEXTING ME AFTER AN AKUMA ATTACK TO LET ME KNOW YOU’RE OKAY like you’re supposed to.

 

Nino: Because that would be super shitty

 

Nino:  better be some important shit going down rn

  
  


10:46 PM

  
  


Adrien:  She knows

 

Adrien: Ladybug knows who I am.  

 

Adrien: So does Hawkmoth

 

Nino: My rooftop  Half an Hour. I have food. Get over here

 

* * *

  
  
  


The rooftop was freezing for both of them, but Nino’s apartment wasn’t going to be much better. His mother liked to keep the thermostat low, which constantly pissed of his father. Honestly, it was hilarious that a man who constantly told Nino that you just needed to turn the other cheek fought with his wife so often over trivial BS.  Then again, Nino never claimed to have perfect parents. They may not have been Gabriel Agreste level terrible, but his Akuma form definitely hated adults for a reason. Probably the same reason he felt compelled to help his blond best bro so deeply. Parents sucked.

 

Speaking of everyone’s favorite cat, the poor boy was shaking like a leaf in Nino’s arms. No tears, they’d come later, when he was alone. Adrien still wasn’t comfortable being seen crying.

 

He didn’t even know why Adrien was shaking. Well, which part was causing the shaking, more like.  Fear for his family and friends, almost losing his lady, the ‘perfect’ comment. A lot of heavy shit landed on him tonight, more than anyone could reasonably handle alone. But Adrien was determined to try, just like always. 

 

Nino had been trying to break that habit for two goddamn years.  He’d gotten the boy cursing, taught him about the birds and the bees with a generous helping of internet and Alya assistance (It had been so awkward. SO AWKWARD. Not because of the talk. Nino was happy to help. Alya MADE it awkward) But still, he couldn’t get Adrien to stop trying to carry the world on his back.  Being a superhero didn’t mean not being human.

 

The trouble ran deeper than Chat Noir though. This was all from his father. He’d taught Adrien by example after Mama Agreste’s… loss, that it was best to not show anything at all. Just hold everything negative in entirely. If Nino ever saw him again, he was going to break the cold bastard’s face in.

 

But Nino didn’t push or pry. He just sat there in the cold, wrapped in fuzzy blankets and held Adrien close until the shaking stopped.

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  


Alya was FREAKING the HELL OUT. Every ten seconds, she’d highlight the  post she’d started and delete it. Then she’d go to the camera roll in her phone, select the video, and hover over the delete button. But time after time, she couldn’t bring herself to hit delete. Fuck. FUCK.

 

Adrien Agreste is Chat Noir. Undeniable fact, backed by video evidence. The biggest scoop of her life, right there on her phone. She needed to post it so badly. She needed to write several full length articles about it. She needed to get rid of it before poor Marinette saw it. Because Chat Noir was in love with Ladybug. All of Paris knew it, and it would break her poor little stalker heart if she found out.

 

“AGHHHHH What the Fuck do I do?!?”

 

“Shut up! I’m trying to sleep!” came the scream from her siblings’ room next door.  ALya didn’t even register the noise. She was in her own world.

  
She’d have to talk to him first obviously. At least warn him before it went up. It wouldn’t be right if she posted it without his say.  She was happy the Akuma today had been so destructive, and scared off all the weaker reporters. That meant that the scoop was exclusively hers. _ Look out Journalism world. Here comes Alya Cesaire. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alya isn't a bad person. She's just... well, she's equal parts Gonzo Journalist and Paparazzi, and Paparazzi never consider how their scoops will affect others. Also, she's far too accepting of her best friend's intense stalkerish tendncies to have a very strong moral code vis a vis privacy, really.
> 
> Nino is the best person ever, and I love him


	15. Channeling Gabriel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone in the Agreste Household is living several lies
> 
> Adrien needs to kick the investigation into high gear
> 
> And the important bit:
> 
> Alya Confronts Adrien
> 
> His response was not what she was expecting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready. Some stuff is about to go down in this chapter, and none of it is going to be fun

  
  


If there was one thing the Agreste family did well, it was pretending nothing was wrong. They’d been doing it for years. Gabriel pretended he wasn’t dead on the inside, and Adrien pretended he didn’t notice. Both of them tiptoed around the gaping hole in their lives, where a pillar of love and support had once stood, pretending it wasn’t there. And now they had something else to add to the list. 

 

Gabriel had been acting like he wasn’t Hawkmoth for years. He was quite good at it by this point.  But acting like he didn’t know Adrien was Chat? Almost impossible. His first instinct when he saw Adrien next was to rush over to him, rip the ring from his finger, and send him to his room for being so  _ insanely reckless.   _ But the impulse was self-destructive and unnecessary. It would all be over soon.  He could keep the boy alive long enough for it not to matter, and in the end he would set everything right. So he had to control himself.

 

The boy would continue pretending to be obedient, pretending to  _ listen _ , then sneak out  his window that night to prance about the city like some.. Some kind of delinquent. He couldn’t believe that the boy would disobey him like that, but evidently he didn’t know his son as well as he had assumed, judging by the way the boy pranced about like an idiot in the suit. It was completely infuriating.

  
  
  
  


School was maddening.  The clock seemed like it was frozen, the teachers droned on incessantly about things he’d learned from his tutors months ago, and.. For some reason he could feel two sets of eyes glued to the back of his head.Yet, the entire lesson, Adrien’s focus was on one thing. A list of locations that he’d already committed to heart. The school, the Kids + studios, Theo Barbeau’s studio, a bench in the city, a banquet hall that was rented out for viewings and ceremonies, a construction site near the Studio.  With the exception of the school, almost all of the locations were within the same thirty block radius.  

 

Hawkmoth knew who he was now, and he needed to even the scales as soon as humanly possible. If he was going to protect his family and friends he needed to find the monster that plagued Paris, and fast. And now, he had a pretty good idea of where to search. Thirty square blocks in the ninth arrondissement. Now to figure out how, without giving away the game.

 

“Adrien, can you repeat back to me what I just said?” His History teacher pointed her long… pointing stick? He wasn’t sure what they were actually called. Adrien took a glance at the board.  _ Okay, obviously it’s something about the  July Revolution, and was saying something about popularity… _

 

_ “ _ You were saying how the July revolution marked the transition from rule by Hereditary Right to a Popular Sovereignty?”

 

“Uh… yes, actually. Still, do try to pay closer attention, Adrien. History is important.” He’d done all of this years ago. Adrien went right back to his mental conundrum.

 

A buzz in his pocket clued him in to the fact that the teacher wasn’t the only one to notice his distraction

 

N: Dude, you there? Also, how the hell do you always do that? I know for a fact you didn’t hear her 

 

A: I’m… still messed up about the identity thing. And I’m just really good at multitasking, I caught maybe forty percent of what she said and extrapolated from there.

 

N: I hate when you do that.

 

A: ...Do what?

 

N: Be smart. I almost prefer the silly puns and the Cat suit. I can’t keep up with Smart Adrien

 

A: I prefer the Puns and the Cat Suit too. By a mile.

  
  
  


Alya had to plan it out perfectly. It was their last class of the day, and she needed to talk to Agreste before he was behind the mansion walls again, or out on patrol. As the rest of the class packed up their bags, she grabbed the model’s arm and flashed him a quick  _ we need to talk _ .   Nino and Marinette both stood, waiting at the door, but Alya waved them on.

 

“ Head on, we’ll catch up with you. I just need to have a quick talk with Adrien about some stuff.. We’ll be right along.” Marinette shot her a frantic look, no doubt thinking it was about their budding almost kinda not-romance, and Alya just winked. It was better for her to think that for now. She’d see tonight anyway. Nino just shrugged and headed out.

 

Once their respective best friends had left, Alya pulled out her phone, and tugged the boy into a seat next to her

 

“So, uh. Is this… whatever this is.. going to explain why you were staring at me all class?”

 

“Yes actually!  See, I got this really cool new post for the Ladyblog, and — Knowing what an avid LB fan you are— Thought you might like to get a .. sneak preview” Adrien tensed almost impercievably, and if Alya hadn’t been looking for it, she probably wouldn’t have noticed.

 

“Oh. Cool, what is it?” Alya silently handed over her phone, video cued up and ready to play. It was a shot of two small figures falling off the top of the Eiffel Tower, one black and one red. As it played, one of the figures flew off onto the observation deck, and the other continued to plummet. At that point, The camera zoomed in, capturing Chat Noir’s face, oddly peaceful considering the circumstances. Honestly, he was a little impressed with himself. Knowing full well what was coming at the end of the video, Adrien pulled everything back, and slid into his least favorite persona. He hadn’t used it in years, but it was necessary now. Freaking out could wait. Alya was a journalist, and like most good  (glorified paparazzi) investigative journalists, she was an absolute shark. One whiff of weakness, a drop of blood in the water, and she’d have the video up before he could say “No Wait” 

 

It was time for his absolute best impression of his father.

 

A minute later, the moment they’ve all been waiting for happened. Chat’s costume disappeared in a burst of green light, and Adrien Agreste was just… there. He paused it. Alya had an expression on her face that looked a lot like victory

 

“Interesting isn’t-” Adrien gave her a blank look and held up a hand.

 

“Is this the only copy of this video that you have?” 

 

“Do you think I’m an idiot? No of course not, it’s backed up on an encrypted server at home.” Adrien tapped the screen twice, and erased the video

 

“This copy is gone. When you get home, delete the other one.”  He  tried to force through the cold, detached air of utter disinterest that his father usually carried. “And to answer your questions in order, yes and yes.” Alya was fairly speechless at that.

 

“W-what?” She had absolutely no idea who she was talking to. This wasn’t Chat Noir, this wasn’t the cinnamon bun that hid in the middle, and it certainly wasn’t ‘Perfect Model Boy’ The Adrien she spoke to right now was cold as hell.

 

“Yes the video was interesting, and yes, you do kind of strike me as an idiot right now.”

 

“Now, wait a fucking second Agreste— “

 

“No.  Sit and listen.   What… exactly did you hope to accomplish by publishing this video? Was it to alienate Ladybug and Chat Noir completely? Because, that’s the first thing it’s going to do.”  She opened her mouth, but had no response, so Adrien continued. 

 

“ Chat Noir seems to enjoy doing what he does. He won’t if this gets out. If this is released, no one will ever leave Chat Noir alone again. There are other people in this world besides Hawkmoth who would love to steal the Chat Noir Miraculous. Criminals, Madmen, Chat Noir hopefuls who are willing enough to kill him to steal his place. They’ll all come out of the woodwork,  _ and they’d come after his friends and family. His classmates _ . In six months, after this runs on every news channel, you’ve had your fifteen minutes of fame, and are sufficiently rich, Paris would be lucky to have a Chat Noir at all.”

 

  
“On the other hand, the boy behind the mask? The one who counted Alya Cesaire as a friend? Would be devastated. He’d never be able to trust you or stand seeing you again. He’d probably be pulled out of public school because of the security risks.  His best friend? The one you’re dating? He’d probably never talk to you again because you single handedly killed a superhero’s career and a teenage boy’s social life with the click of a button. And your best friend? Marinette? Do you really think she’d take kindly to you ruining the life of the boy she’s apparently quite taken with? Don’t you think that perhaps the legions of combined Adrien Agreste and Chat Noir fans should be kept very, very far away from her for her own safety?”

 

Adrien took a breath, and smoothed back his hair like he’d seen his father do a million times when verbally tearing someone down. It was almost over. He just needed to commit a few minutes longer, then he could go puke the rotten taste of Gabriel Agreste’s words out of his mouth.

 

“So, essentially, by posting this, you’ll be making a name for yourself in journalism for about two seconds as the glorified paparazzi who happened to catch a glimpse of Chat Noir’s real face, you’d obliterate Adrien Agreste’s entire life and any glimmer of happiness or freedom he got from being a superhero, and the two closest people in your life would most likely never talk to you again. You’d certainly be rich for the five months it would take for Gabriel Agreste to start the process of suing you into the Stone Age.”  He tossed the phone into her lap as he stood up, and brushed imaginary lint off of his shirt. 

 

“So, yeah. Have fun with that. Or go home and delete the video. Really it’s up to you.”  He retreated swiftly to the bathroom, forcing himself to ignore the sounds of Alya starting to cry. It had to be done, and frankly it would be worth it if it marked the end of Alya’s witch hunt for Ladybug’s identity. Either way, he felt sick.

  
  
Marinette Dupain-Cheng was wide eyed and shaking, leaning against the doorway of the classroom her crush/partner/something had just stormed out of. Apparently Adrien was right. 

 

She really didn’t know much about him at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adrien is literally vomitting in a bathroom right now. 
> 
> Also he deserves an Academy Award for being an incredible actor as he was slowly dying inside
> 
> Alya is questioning her every life choice, and feels like utter slime
> 
> Marinette is just ???
> 
> Nino has no clue what the hell is happening, and no one is telling him anything


	16. Crystal Clear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat is kinda messed up today. 
> 
> Marinette doesn't know what's going on
> 
> Alya's in trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait. Enjoy

 

He really wasn’t supposed to be out patrolling this early. Honestly, it kind of negated the point of patrol. There were still people covering the streets of Paris, enough of them to spot any potential Akuma and report it without him checking one section of the city at a time. But this wasn’t really about Akuma, any more than it was about stopping normal criminals. This was about getting the HELL out of his house. Taking to the roofs and sprinting as fast as he could away from anything that reminded him of Gabriel Agreste, because every second he sat in that house reminded Adrien of his… performance earlier. The creeping doubts in the back of his head were louder there

 

_ That was it. That was the True you. You’re becoming just like him, just give it a little while longer. One day the rest of your heart will die, and Adrien Agreste will be the only face left. _

 

So he ran, faster and more reckless than he ever had before. He didn’t even take the time to pick his landing spots with any accuracy. Crowds of parisians looked to the sky, spotted the black blur speeding overhead and scrambled to check their phones for the Butterfly alerts that typically accompanied the Cat’s presence. If he’d noticed them, he might have been offended (Ladybug never got that kind of reaction, just cheering and adulation. Parisians were dicks) He didn’t even register the small panic, though. Chat Noir’s mind was far away.  

 

Chat’s distraction explained why he didn’t sense her presence until she’d slammed into him mid-jump and dumped him unceremoniously on a rooftop.

 

“Chat, what the hell are you doing? Quit dashing across the city like a madman in broad daylight, you’re causing a panic!” Chat glanced down at the people on the street, slightly amused by their scabbling to get away from him.

 

“So? Let ‘em. They only react this way when I’m around alone. You know what the Americans say about assumptions.” Ladybug gave an undignified snort at that, but her razor sharp gaze never turned from his face.

 

“Okay, Adrien- Chat. What the hell is wrong with you today? You’re never this much of a dick.”

 

“I just.. I had a fight earlier. You know the girl who runs the Ladybug?”

 

“I know of Alya, yes.” Her expression became guarded.

 

“She was close enough to catch footage of me during the fall the other day and basically threatened me with exposure…”

 

“She did WHAT?!” Ladybug’s voice was a strange mix of shock and outrage. Why she was surprised, Chat had no clue. The girl was literally constantly talking about how the people “had a right to know” Ladybug’s Identity.  The only reason he was surprised was because he thought Alya would reconsider because of their friendship.

 

“Yepp. She said she knew how big of a LadyBlog fan I was and she wanted to give me a sneak peek of the newest story. And she showed me the video.” Chat scratched the back of his neck. “I… probably could have reacted better.”

 

“How did you…”

 

“I told her that if the five minutes of fame as a glorified paparazzi and the money that Gabriel Agreste would likely sue her out of were worth ruining my life and alienating everyone she loved, then she should go ahead and post the video. If not she should probably delete it before anyone else saw.” 

 

Marinette flinched at the flat tone in Adrien’s voice as he recapped his words from earlier. She… She didn’t know how to feel, because try as she might, Marinette couldn’t bring herself to believe that Alya would be so… callous, towards someone they both cared about. On the other hand, Chat Noir didn’t lie. Not to Ladybug. They were both her best friend.

 

“Chat, I… are you  **sure?** ”

 

“Am I sure that someone threatened to out me? Am I  _ sure? _ My Lady, she… she obviously wasn’t  _ thinking it through _ , she just say a way to make her mark and she obviously wasn’t thinking.. But yes. I’m  _ sure _ —”  Screams rang out from across town. 

 

_ Near Alya’s house _ . Marinette’s traitorous mind supplied.

Chat reacted first.  He shot off, across the rooftops towards the screams. Marinette shoved the bubbling conflict to the back of her mind and followed.  She..  she wasn’t eager to fight Lady Wifi again, and she had a bad feeling that was what was waiting for them across town.

  
  


* * *

 

  
  


Perched on a roof in the center of town was a figure, wearing a shining suit of what looked like… glass? Marinette was glad, at least for the victim’s sake, that it wasn’t see through, instead, the crystalline substance seemed to be refracting some kind of internal light source, surrounding her with an aura of color. 

 

“No more secrets. No more Lies.  No more guilt. It’s time for everything to be obvious. To be known. It’s —”  Her monologue was  interrupted by a baton to the face. The moment her focus was interrupted, the blinding aura flickered, and Marinette saw her best friend’s face , twisted and hateful. Apparently, being re-akumatized changed her powers? 

 

Chat was perched on a roof, fifty feet away, with an unreadable expression plastered on his face. He extended a hand for the baton to return to his hand, but before it could finish it’s arc the Akuma forced the black-clad hero to move, spraying a barrage of translucent crystals at him. Each one made a sound like a tuning fork as they struck the tar roof and embedded themselves in it. 

 

“Sorry, but we’ll have to postpone the lecture. We were called in to handle a local moth infestation.” Another slew of crystals shot out at him, but Chat batted them aside. Ladybug gave him a significant look, and he lept away to the akuma’s right, drawing her attention away from his lady. “Hey I’m not quite  _ clear  _  on what your goal is here? I mean, your powers certainly  _ rock…  _ ” Once again Chat was interrupted, this time by a pillar of pointed crystals that shot out of the roof where the projectiles had originally landed. Chat backflipped out of the way, and swung the metal staff in his hands at the pillar with all his might.  The staff resonated against the crystal, but didn’t leave so much as a chip missing.

 

Just then, Marinette noticed something. In the facets of the pillar, Chat’s reflection changed. The middle showed him as he was, but both of the sides showed him without his suit. One was posing and well groomed, but empty. The other was… well it was everything she associated with Chat Noir, superimposed onto Adrien’s face. A crooked mischievous grin,a languid pose.  It looked so much better on him than the other pose, especially now that she knew how empty the first was.  

 

A moment later, she heard a helicopter in the background.  

 

“Chat, MOVE! I can see through the mask in the crystal’s reflection!” He moved as if burnt, leaping onto an adjacent roof that would remove him from her line of sight. As Marinette analysed the situation, searching for the akuma, searching for a way to attack without being revealed, Crystal Clear began shooting her seeds into the surrounding roof, growing a small forest of the refracting stones. Both heroes fell back several rooftops, and came together.

 

“Chat, I-  I’m not really sure how much help I’ll be up close on this one..”

 

“Don’t worry, my lady. I don’t really think there’s much harm in Hawkmoth seeing me again…  You use the lucky charm, I’ll wait for the news helicopter to leave then go keep the Akuma busy, yeah?”

 

“...Okay. Try to grab her glasses. It’s the only place the Akuma could be. It’s clearly not in her phone this time...” He gave a brusque nod, and darted off.

 

The helicopter careened off to the left, smoking from a line of crystals embedded in its hull. Marinette cursed her luck and sprinted off after it, praying that Chat would be able to take care of himself. She could see Nadja Chamakh hanging out the door to the out of control Chopper, still desperately trying to narrate the scene while they crashed. 

 

_ Seriously, what is the deal with reporters? _

 

She flung her yoyo out from the rooftop she was perched on, weaving its string between lamp posts to make a net. Fortunately, the cable was hard enough to withstand the impact. The lamp posts, on the other hand, bent like unbaked dough upon impact. The intrepid reporter was flung out the side, and sent screaming towards the pavement below.

 

The Yoyo was still tied up, tangled around the helicopter, and she couldn’t untie it without sending the rest of the crew to join Madame Chamakh. That left a single option. She might not be as fast as Chat, but she was gonna have to be fast enough.  Ladybug sprinted as fast as she could down the side of the building, trying as hard as she could to outrun gravity. She couldn’t wait much longer. The ground was coming up fast.

 

One last burst of supernatural speed put her just below the plummeting woman, and just in time. Marinette used the wall as a springboard, launching herself out perpendicular to the wall, arms outstretched, and juuust managed to catch screaming woman.

 

“Ladybug, do you have any statements—” 

 

“Shhh, no time.” 

 

Despite that fact that there was literally no time to waste,She still had to spend five minutes ferrying passengers out of the burning vehicle so she could reclaim her Yo Yo. Just as the last camera man’s feet touched ground, she was off again, calling her lucky charm as she ran.

  
  
  


Chat was cornered.  He’d been leading Crystal Clear in a merry chase from rooftop to rooftop, and he’d successfully dodged or blocked every shot she threw at him, but he hadn’t seen the pattern. The shots he’d thought were at random turned out to be anything but. Now, here he was, lost in a maze of slowly growing crystals, each one showing off a different aspect of Adrien Agreste. Most without his favorite features attached. 

 

“Cata-”

 

“Chat, duck and close your eyes!” Chat obeyed without question.  Marinette aimed the large red spotted flashlight at the largest crystal, and the immediate reaction was blinding. The light bounced and reflected from crystal to crystal, intensifying each time, and she heard her Akumafied best friend cry out in pain. 

 

Chat made short work of the crystals, dragging his hand across each surface and breaking them down to a fine dust, and without the threat to her identity, it was a simple matter for Ladybug to retrieve the glasses, and finish her half. A wave of Ladybugs washing over Paris fixed the helicopter and the damaged rooftops, and the dark energy of the akuma boiled off of Alya.

* * *

  
  


Chat gave Marinette a perfunctory fistbump, and walked over to where Alya sat, looking around with a disjointed expression. When she spotted the heroes, and realized what happened, Alya shrank in on herself.

 

“I..i did it again, didn’t I?” She looked ready to cry. Chat sighed to himself and walked over. It was his mess and he had to clean it up

 

“Alya, listen”

 

“No, I-I’m so sorry Adrien… I. I almost ruined your life. I’m so sorry I can’t” Chat knelt  and took her hands. 

 

“Alya, it’s okay. I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that. I overreacted.”

 

“Y-you aren’t… you don’t hate me?”

 

“I… You weren’t thinking. You made a mistake. I… “  His ring beeped, and he noticed that he only had two pads left. “We’ll talk later. Ladybug and I need to go, okay?” Alya nodded.

 

As they took their leave, Ladybug turned to him.

 

“Chat, are you going to be okay?”  Chat just nodded. 

 

“I’ll be fine, M’Lady. You need to get home.”

  
  


* * *

  
  


Fu was a surprisingly talented fighter, and though Adrien was a fast fighter, he’d already collected several bruises. His staff fighting skills were improving though.  He was learning to use both ends, and it made his staff work considerably faster. Fu was having him use a wooden staff and train out of costume, because it would apparently make  his skills that much better.

 

Once they’d finished for the night, Fu pulled him over to the mats, sat him down, and thrust a canteen into his hands.

 

“So.. Your identity has been becoming a matter of contention as of late I hear..”

 

“I.. Master Fu, I tried my best, but it was impossible. I couldn’t save her and keep my secret, so I did what I had to.” Fu patted his aching shoulder comfortingly.

 

“You did the right thing. Ladybug makes a big deal out of the importance of secret identities, and she isn’t wrong, but your secrets aren’t worth your lives. You made the sacrifice, and now you just need to deal with the aftermath. Everything will work itself out in time.”

 

“I hope so. I can’t afford to let anyone else find out.”

 

“Now… What I really wish to talk to you about is your friend, Nino… I need to ask your opinion of him.”

 

“Uh, how so?  I consider him the best friend I’ve ever had. He’s loyal, fair, honorable… hard to piss off…”

 

“So, in other words.. Hero Material?”

 

“Beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Akuma is important. It's here to show you something very important for later in the story.


	17. Adrien Is A Beautiful Butterfly, Ready To Spread His Wings And Fly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Chat Noir visits girls bedrooms who AREN'T Marinette Dupain-Cheng's (I know, it's blasphemy in this fandom)
> 
> In which Alya Cesaire see's her time to shine, and teases her innocent homeschooler friend mercilessly
> 
> In which Nino is briefly Jealous
> 
> And Nathanael gets The Wrong Idea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buckle up kids

 

A:Hey, which window on ALya’s house is her bedroom?

 

N: Uh… Top row, two over from the right.  Why?

 

A: …

 

N: Dude.

 

N: You can’t ask a guy which window leads to his girlfriend’s bedroom and not provide some context.

 

N: can you not tell why that’s weird? Is it a homeschool thing?

 

N: Dude??

 

Adrien’s reply was a winking cat emoji

  
  
  


Alya was curled up on her bed, both hands pressed to her temples. She may or may not have been rocking back and forth, desperately trying to remember what the hell she’d done as an akuma  _ this time. _ Conveniently, her minor freak out was interrupted by a knock at her window.

 

_ Wait a second, window?!   _ Alya was on her feet, a second later. Ignoring the state of her room, or her pajamas, She flung back the curtains and slid the pane open.

 

“Hey there J. Jonah—  Uh, Alya, no offence but why didn’t you put on like a shirt or..”

 

“It’s a frickin sports bra, shut up and get in here Cat Boy.” Chat somewhat reluctantly obliged, barely managing to yank his tail out of the way as she slammed the window closed again and drew the curtains.  Chat’s eyes instantly adjusted to the darkness, and he noted the articles and close ups of him and his Lady that littered the floor, most of them bearing paint chips  from being violently torn from the walls.

 

“I like what you’ve done with the place.”

 

“You’re lucky I still feel too guilty to kick your ass, Adrien.”

 

“Erm… Chat please. Or Mr. Noir. or any variation thereof, if you don’t mind.” Alya simply cocked her head. “I like it better. It’s kind of jarring being called Adrien in the suit.” 

 

“Ooookay, Chat then. You’re still lucky.” 

 

“Wanna try it? I bet it’ll be funny, you could do it for the Vine.” Chat put his fists up jokingly, and she glared at him.

 

“My Blog is classy, Tomcat. I don’t post videos of animal abuse OR funny cat videos.”

 

“Meowtch.” He gave a self satisfied smirk.  _ Using humor to lighten the mood. Sixty percent of the time, it works every time. _ “No but seriously, you wanna throw on a bathrobe or something? I’m not gonna be able to look Nino in the eye tomorrow knowing I was hanging out in your bedroom in skintight leather while you were wearing That..” That, was a pair of tiny terrycloth shorts and a sports bra which didn’t do as much to support her.. Uh, Ladies as it was supposed to.

 

“Aww, who would have thought Chat Noir would get so flustered about a little skin?” She grinned so mischievously, Chat actually felt a little envious. “I’m comfortable with my outfit, thank you very much. Not like you aren’t going to see me in a bathing suit eventually, anyway. Anyway, Chat Noir’s supposed to be a Tomcat, quit acting like a kitten,”

 

“Oh, jeez, sorry. I must have forgot that rule when I got my miraculous. ‘Must be an absolute Cad’” He rolled his eyes hard.  “ANYWAY.” He cut Alya off before she could say something else and send the conversation off on a tangent “I’m here to propose an idea to you..”

 

“Does it involve you sneaking in my window more often? Because I dooo have a boyfriend, you know. Not that I haven’t had my share of Chat Noir daydreams, but…”

 

“No, for God’s sake—  Wait, really?”

 

“Dude, I’m pretty sure every person in Paris who’s even marginally into guys has had bad thought about your leather-clad ass”

 

“Hmmm. Fair enough.”  He struck a pose, glancing in a mirror on the back of her bedroom door. “It is quite the ass.  Anyway, no. My proposal is a way for you to.. Uh, help out Paris’ best Superhero duo, and put yourself back in my good graces”

 

“Oh?” Alya leaned forward, shifting almost instantly into  serious reporter mode.

 

“Yeah.  You’re so eager to uncover someone’s secret identity, so why not help me find Hawkmoth’s?”  And he thought her last grin was impressive.

  
  
  
  
  


Marinette was deeply confused at school the next day.  There she was, sitting at her desk, minding her own business (early for once in her life) when her best friend finally arrived, talking and laughing with  _ Adrien _ , of all people.  Alya took her seat, and for four whole periods refused to spill the beans about how they made up so fast.

 

Nino was just salty all day. He knew, intellectually, that Adrien would never play him like that, and that his girl loved him too much to play around with a glorified furry, but deep in his gut there was still that tiny bit of jealousy. Nino fucking hated it.

 

Adrien and Alya were having a ball screwing with Nino (just a little bit). Most of their day was spent making plans, and setting up different routes for Alya to investigate during Akuma attacks. No clue what she was going to be looking  _ for,  _ but she was sure as hell going to be looking.    She was also extremely interested in the incomplete lists of Akuma he’d managed to collect, and she said she could probably use the Ladyblog to collect more demographics for him.  In short, things were going well, which of course meant that it was time for some fresh hell to come along.

 

A: So that all went far to well, I think.

 

N: oh? Chewing my girlfriends head off until she got herself akumatized was well, then?

 

A: Nino, you know I didn’t…

 

N: Oh, I know dude. I don’t really blame you.

 

N: Honestly, she probably needed that.

 

N: But, if that’s well, then what dramatic, dangerous BS do you think constitutes poorly

 

N: and why are you jinxing it

 

A: Black Cats aren’t a symbol of LUCK, Nino.

 

A: and real Bullshit constitutes…

 

A: I don’t know.  Some kind of ridiculous, freaky akuma?

 

N: that’s every day in Paris. You don’t have to be Nostradamus to guess that

 

A: Fair.  Okay, how bout… Ladybug up and deciding to reveal herself, just as I ask Marinette out? Or Hawkmoth finally revealing his Master Plan, and destroying most of Paris in an epic battle, defeating both of us in the process?  

 

A: how’s that for doomsday predictions? 

 

A: Or, same scenario, except we win, only to discover that’s a bigger, badder dude out there waiting to kill us all.  You know. Something to justify the terrible feeling I have in my gut

 

(Adrien was wrong of course. What happened next wasn’t any of that, it was quite a bit sillier. No, Adrien’s predictions of doom wouldn’t come true until the next week.)

  
  
  
  
  
  


As of that day, exactly, Adrien decided he needed to quit having after school activities... or, just pack up as the bell rang, and sprint to fencing. Something. Anything, really. Every goddamn time he took his sweet time packing up someone grabbed him, confessed something, or accused him of something, or tried to molest him (that was mostly Chloe, but that didn’t make it any better).

 

And this time, it once again led to him listening to those classic words.

 

“I know your secret, Agreste. I know who you are.”  Although, in retrospect he had to admit that the mouth currently speaking those words was probably the last one he’d ever expected. Nor did he expect that they would make him laugh.

 

See, as he was taking his sweet time packing up, talking with his crew (Nino’d recently decided that the four of them constituted a crew, and Adrien was the token white guy) his shy, diminutive classmate had hooked his arm and dragged him off to an abandoned hallway.  After everyone’s favorite ginger artiste cornered him, he’d expected… maybe some kind of tough guy, ‘stay away from Marinette, we’re meant to be’ kind of thing. Maybe.   Instead he got this.

  
  


“Cut the innocent act, Agreste. I know you’re Hawkmoth.” Nathanael spat at him, full of venom.   A silent beat passed, then another.

 

Adrien died. 

 

He’d never laughed that hard around anyone except for Nino. The feeling of busting a lung in the middle of school was liberating

 

“Heh..heheh.. Oh, geez. Thanks Nate. Can I call you Nate?”

 

“No.”

 

“Sorry, Nat. Any.. heh.. Anyway, thank you. I really needed that.” Nathanael maintained his thousand-yard stare. “Oh shit, you’re actually serious?” he received a frigid nod in return, which almost sent him over the edge again. If it weren’t for years of practice maintaining an absolute cool, he would have. Instead, he receded back into his stage persona. “Well, heck, Nathanael.. I uh, I have no Idea why you’d think that”

 

“See, there you go again, trying to act like a human being with normal people emotions. At least the laugh was convincing..” Adrien’s eyes widened. 

 

“Okay, no. Seriously. Where the hell is this coming from?”

 

“You want me to explain to you why you’re Hawkmoth? Really, Hawkmoth?” Adrien nodded, and gestured with his hand for his classmate to get on with it.

 

“Alright, let’s see here:  One, you disappear during literally EVERY Akuma attack. Every single one, whether they’re near you or not. Two, The Agreste family crest is a black butterfly. The Agreste Studios logo is a black butterfly. Agreste is the name of a species of butterfly.  Three, you have enough money and resources to track down evil butterfly magic somehow. Four, you are literally the fakest robot of a person I’ve ever met. Five, Literally, the two people closest to you cause like 85% of the akuma attacks”  

 

Adrien kind of zoned out, at that point.  The robot comment actually kind of hurt.  It was all circumstantial, coincidental evidence, but he had to admit it was.. Kind of a funny  little perfect storm. Had he not known he wasn’t, Nathanael would have had a kind of convincing case. He tuned back into the artist’s slightly panicked rant. “...And I’m not gonna let you”

 

“What.” Nathanael fell silent. 

 

“Huh?”

 

“You aren’t going to let me what? Get away with it?   First things first, I’m not a supervillain. I’m certainly not Hawkmoth. Just to get that out of the way. Buuuut, if I was, and you were right, what was your plan?”

 

“I-I would go announce it. I’d get Ladybug!”

 

“You think Hawkmoth would let you leave his sight after a speech like that? You’d be gone or Akumatized or… well, disposed of before you made it out the school doors, man.” Adrien forced himself into a casual posture. “Like… this was super poorly thought out. I’ll admit, the circumstantial evidence looks a tad damning. But, shouldn’t you have .. I don’t know, told Ladybug or Chat Noir, or Alya or someone first? Not confront a possible super villain alone after school in an empty classroom?” Nathanael paled, apparently thinking of that for the first time. “ Because if Hawkmoth has powers like Chat Noir or Ladybug, he could probably just, like, throw you out a window.”

 

T-they saw me grab you! If I turn up dead, you’ll be sunk!”

 

“I told you, man. I’m NOT Hawkmoth. Seriously, once we’re done here, leave. Run home Charlie, as fast as you can! Go tell Alya, try to get ahold of Ladybug or Chat Noir, warn em. Nothing’s going to happen, because I’m NOT HAWKMOTH.”

 

“Have you perhaps considered that maybe I run away during Akuma attacks because I’m supposed to, as per my Bodyguard and my Father? Or that I’m a coward trying to make sure my pretty face doesn’t get damaged? Or that you’re taking circumstantial evidence and running with it because you’re a comic book fan, and since the girl you like likes me, you want to see me as a bad guy? So now I’m THE bad guy? Because.. I mean.. There are plenty of explanations for those points you brought up…”  Nathanael opened his mouth to speak, but Adrien waved him away.  “Go tell some superheroes.. Or Lady Bloggers. Seriously. Go.”

 

Nino and Alya apparently had a riot when Nathanael tracked them down later, spewing his theory, but it left a cold pit in the bottom of Adrien’s stomach every time he thought about it.

  
_He thinks I’m a robot_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> or Poor Nathanael. It seems Super Nathan will never get his day in the sun...
> 
> Huh. How do you like that, though. Agreste is a type of butterfly. Funny co inky dink
> 
> Alya is the Sin Friend in the group and we all know it.
> 
> Also, didn't I say something about shit going down next week? Oh Kwami, are we reaching the end of the line?
> 
> Don't worry folks, we still have so much left to go. (and maybe a sequel at some point if I feel like it... I probably will.)


	18. Slip-ups and Bad Press

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel should have thicker skin than this by now, but you know how Old People get about Political Correctness
> 
> Marinette screws up. Seriously, kid needs to pay better attention
> 
> Adrien is totally NOT Jealous, and nobody is buying it

  
  


**Fashion Titan Under Fire**

>  
> 
> **Gabriel Agreste, Paris’ own King of Fashion has recently been under criticism from many others in the industry for a variety of controversies. Chief among them is an issue that Agreste Fashion Industries has been called out on repeatedly since the emergence of the supervillain Hawkmoth. Gabriel has always used a black butterfly as his signature, and the symbol represents his company. Critics say that it’s thoughtless and insensitive to the villain’s victims to continue using it, and that the company should change their logo.**
> 
>  
> 
> **In response, Gabriel has stated that he refuses to bow to a glorified terrorist, and that changing his logo would be an act of weakness and surrender. Immediately after publicly declaring that his family’s logo would not be altered or removed, Gabriel retreated back into his self imposed exile.**
> 
> **Once a very public figure for his company, Agreste hasn’t resumed his former presence since the unfortunate passing of his wife seven years ago. Inside sources that requested to remain anonymous say that the public and the fashion industry aren’t the only ones feeling the absence. Gabriel hasn’t once appeared in public with his son since the incident, and the Agreste family’s vacations stand unused as they have for nearly a decade.**
> 
>  
> 
> **It is not known what Gabriel spends his time on these days, or where he does it, but one thing is clear. The once sterling reputation of the Agreste family is tarnished, if only from lack of polishing. He would do well to pull his head out of the sand  before it is too late.**

 

* * *

  
  


Gabriel balled the newspaper up, in a rage, and flung it across the room into the fire.  _ How dare they accuse me of tarnishing the family reputation?! _ None of them understand. None of them could understand, how could they? None of them lost Alice. None of them ever had her to begin with, they couldn’t comprehend the lengths to which he was going to save his family, to make it whole again.   

 

How dare they tell him to change the symbol of his company. The Agreste Family has been living under the Black Butterfly crest since there were Agreste, since before there was a Paris. Yet they act as though it were a trifling thing to tear it down, to make it something  _ new _ and  _ politically correct. _ He stalked deeper into his inner sanctum, down a hallway filled with black butterflies. He needed to let off some goddamn steam.

* * *

  
  


Marinette’s head was reeling in class. Her head had been reeling since the impromptu reveal the other night. She got a headache everytime she tried to combine her mental image of Adrien and Chat Noir (She was convinced that Adrien was more real than he thought he was. No one acted that well), she was stressing out about  Alya’s apparent complete return to normalcy two days post-Akuma, and the staring contest Nathanael was having with the back of Adrien’s head was disturbing her.  Everything was terrible forever.   

 

The worst part of everything her life this past week, however, was the emotional turmoil. She didn’t know how she felt about Adrien (Chat?) anymore. If the boy she was crushing on  _ was _ an act, and she never looked close enough to see through it without cheating, did she even deserve to ask him out? Adrien had challenged her to see him for real, and if Hawkmoth hadn’t accidentally given her a shortcut, she never would have made the connection on her own. Especially considering she was struggling to do it NOW.

 

With her mental state, it was no wonder that she wasn’t paying much attention when Nathanael started talking to her. She just heard the words ‘Lunch with me’ and nodded. It didn’t occur to her until she saw Alya’s expression that she’d just accidentally agreed to go on a date with him.  

 

Welp, merde. Looks like she had another date with Nathanael. Or, you know, she could turn him down and get him Akumatized again. That was always an option.

 

Don’t get her wrong, there was nothing wrong with Nathanael, really. (Although she  _ had  _ heard that some of the drawings in that sketch pad of his got rather… risque, and a few of them featured her, which made her feel weird)  He was a lovely guy, and honestly he was kind of cute. 

 

But… Marinette kind of had a type. Tall, blonde, green eyed boys with asses that you could bounce an entire piggy bank off of.  Nathanael was kind of the opposite of those things. Not that she considered herself shallow, just…  She just had, y’know, preferences. Possibly unrealistic ones, yes, but they were hers. Also, his behavior around her reminded her of her behavior around Adrien circa 2015, which was surprisingly annoying. She doesn’t know how he managed to put up with it for so long. Just further proof that Adrien was a saint. At least... when he wasn’t wearing leather.

 

Ouch. There went her head again.

 

* * *

 

 

N: So.

 

N: On a scale of 1 to 10, how jelly are you rn?

 

A: Not.

 

A: Shut up. I am not jealous. Just ….

 

N: Just “jealous as a motherfucker” As the Americans would say

 

A: If it was anyone else, no.

 

A:But I’m not a huge fan of Nat rn. You know, the whole accusing me of being a robot supervillain thing?

 

A: Like I said   she’s free to do whatever she wants since.. Well, we’re just friends right now.

 

A: But did you see the weird smug fucking look he shot me when she said yes? I s2g

 

N: uh huh… suuuure bro. You aren’t jealous at all

  
  


* * *

 

M: OMIGOD Adrien.. I am so sorry o//o

 

M: I totally wasn’t.. I mean I didn’t…

 

M: totally zoned out and he asked something about lunch and I answered without thinking…

 

M: and he totally thinks it’s a daTE

 

M:<JHSADJHBASOJH

 

A: Marinette, It’s fine. You can go to lunch with whoever you want. No Harm Done :) 

 

A: and it’s only a date if YOU want it to be one

 

A: that’s how dates work ;)

 

* * *

  
  


**_Hello Clockwork. I am Hawkmoth.  It is Time to turn back the clock, and regain what was once yours. But, first you must do a little something for me_ **

 

_ Yes, Hawkmoth. _

 

* * *

  
  


“Bwahaha, you really think Tomato Nate is going to charm Marinette in their two hour Not-Date? You are a million times cooler than him, even if you are a Tomcat. Also, you know, you have a soul.”

 

“No, I don’t actually think that, it’s called an irrational fear for a reason, Alya! Also, ginger jokes? That’s low.”  Adrien ran his fingers through his hair, messing it into the Chat Noir style. It made him feel so much more confident. “Anyway, it’s like.. I know Marinette likes me now. But one of these days she’ll realize that I don’t really DO anything. I have zero passion for anything.”

 

“What the hell are you talking about dude?! You are a freakin superhero!” Nino chimed in behind his Ice Cream. 

 

“Yeah, but like… You’re a musician” he pointed at Alya “J. J. over here’s the next Nadja Chamack, Marinette’s going to be a bigger name in fashion than my Father, Nathanael has his Art… Hell, basically everyone in our class except for Chloe has a  _ thing. _ I have no Thing. I’m boring as shit outside of my double life that I can’t actually tell her about.”  He glanced over at Alya  “Also, just FYI, It’s super weird to have you here for these conversations. I don’t know how I feel about this new dynamic.”

 

“Yeah, well, I’m not sure how I like your nicknames.” Alya replied behind crossed arms. “What the hell does JJ mean anyway”

 

“You know. How you’re all like ‘Get me pictures of Ladybug!!’  So, Jay Jonah Jameson! JJ!” Adrien smirked, and Nino was clearly holding back laughter. Smart boy. He’d be in the doghouse all month if he laughed now.

 

“I suppose that makes you Peter Parker, because you’re a goddamn nerd, huh?” Alya shot back.

 

“Pshh, hottest Peter Parker I’ve ever heard of, If I do say so myself… Andrew Garfield got nothing on me”

 

“Sure buddy. Keep telling yourself that.” Then Alya mirrored his smirk, and he smelled Ozone from the impending Cesaire-Shade. “At least his Flash Thompson wasn’t a tiny ginger boy.”  Adrien sputtered in indignation at that. The sheer implication… Was she suggesting that he found Nathanael … intimidating somehow?

 

“Excuse me, he’s Eddie Brock at best… which means.. Shit, keeping to that analogy, he’ll be akumatized soon, and It’ll be terrifying and Chat Noir Themed.” Nino tapped him on the shoulder, zoning back into the conversation..

  
“You know he won’t get Akuma-tized if you just tread lightly, right?” Nino looked at him pointedly. Any further attempts Nino were going to make vis a vis making Adrien behave himself were interrupted by several earsplitting screams. Alya gave Adrien a nod, and whipped out her phone. She started pulling out maps on her phone, trying to see how quickly she could make it over two sections of the city. Hopefully, with any luck, the Akuma would be nowhere near her search zone. Unfortunately, the statistics used to plan it out suggested otherwise.

 

"Sorry, we'll have to finish our Nathanael discussion latter. Help Alya, I gotta go!" Adrien leapt out the window, transforming mid fall. He had an idea.

 

Alya and Nino just looked at eachother. Their best friends really were made for each other. They were both absolutely crazy. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adrien is slowly, accidentally forming an inner circle of sorts.
> 
> Marinette is missing out on cool inner circle shenanigans because she's a secretive jerk.
> 
> Gabriel's inner circle is his friends Johnnie Walker and Dom Perignon ( I have no Idea what rich French people drink)


	19. A Clockwork Noir

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new Akuma, Clockwork, makes his Debut. 
> 
> The fight doesn't go well

 

Marinette hated her life. Really, she did. Well, okay she didn’t _hate_ it. She fifty percent hated it, fifty percent loved it. The only thing she knew for certain was that she was one hundred percent done with these plot twists.

 

This all started when Chat Noir just _had_ to be noble and save her at the Eiffel Tower. He just had to lose his transformation, and HAD to turn out to be her Adrien. Stupid goddamn cat, worming into her love life accidentally. Stupid fate. Stupid everything.   Marinette just knew that when Adrien found out that she knew, he was going to be insufferable. All puns and smoothness and flirting and PUNS. And worst of all, it was going to be coming from her Angelic Adrien, and it was probably going to be so _hot._  She could feel Future Marinette getting flustered by it from here.  Dear Lord, it was hard enough to patrol with the boy, knowing that it was his ass she was totally not staring at (blatantly staring at) in that leather. More than once she’d almost brained herself with a magical YoYo. So, yeah, that was pretty much fifty percent hate right now.

 

...On the other hand… Marinette could be pragmatic.  The hot guy she was head over heels for was head over heels for her, and in fact liked Marinette AND Ladybug. That had to be some kind of miracle. And it’s not like being Chat Noir made Adrien LESS amazing, on the contrary. He was a goddamn superhero. So it made him a little more annoying, sure, but she could deal with it. She already did on  an almost daily basis didn’t she? .. and  just between her and herself, Chat Noir was actually kind of … funny sometimes.  There. She said it. And No, she was never going to tell him she said that

 

Also, in the pro category.. Well, it was a relief that Adrien wasn’t actually perfect. He got jealous, he had no sense of personal space, he was a gigantic friggin nerd. The whole perfect thing was a nice idea when she was younger, but at seventeen it was more intimidating than anything else. How did one measure up to perfection? How did you not live your life in fear of them realizing how out of your league they were?

 

But, shitty as it sounded, she wasn’t worried about that anymore. Because, having finally managed to combine Chat and Adrien in her head, it came out to a guy who was a lot more.. Real. Less Photoshop perfect, more genuine human being. He was kind of obtainable now. And Boy oh boy did Marinette want to obtain him.

  


Marinette was shaken out of her extremely rude reverie by her… “date”, shaking her arm and yelling something about an akuma. Oh great.  Fantastic  That’s exactly what she was hoping for. Nathanael  looked about ready to run for the hills, which would have been so convenient.  Would have been, if a certain black suited blur hadn’t grabbed her and rushed out the back door of the coffee shop.  

 

Never mind. It was official. Marinette hated her life.

 

* * *

  
  


So, the whole working with a superhero thing was pretty awesome. Both streets were full of people, living life like normal. Alya wouldn’t have  even guessed that there was an Akuma rampaging three Arrondissements away, but hey, that’s life in Paris.

 

Alya was keeping one eye on her blog, one eye on her surroundings, lowkey freaking out. Now that she knew her friend was one of the lucky duo, everything was so much more _real_.  That Akuma that erased people from existence, the one that shot balls of fire?  Much more terrifying when you knew the blond boy beneath the  indestructible leather catsuit. Forget about taking punches from monsters, Adrien looked like he’d blow away in a slight breeze.  

 

— Except that was wrong. He didn’t just… become Chat Noir. He’d been Chat Noir for years now. She’d seen him flung into, through, and off more than half the buildings in Paris, and getting worked up wasn’t going to help anyone. Besides, Ladybug would always save him if she had to. Her train of thought was interrupted by Nino gripping her shoulder and shaking lightly.

 

“What’s wrong? Your expression is freaking me out, Is our boy alright?” Alya was momentarily torn between sympathy and annoyance, seeing the concerned expression on her boyfriend’s face. She shoved him off.

 

“Yeah, geez, he hasn’t even started fighting the akuma yet.  Are you like this during every Akuma attack?”

 

“Well, excuse me for being concerned-”

 

“For your hetero life mate? It’s okay Silent Bob, he can handle himself.” Nino’s expression looked so offended she almost laughed out loud. Of course that would work on him.

 

“Excuse me, Adrien is _not_ Jay! I mean, yeah I’m totally Silent Bob, I’m wise as fuck, but Adrien as Jay? No way.”

 

“Jeez, fine. J.D. is fine. Better answer Turk?” Nino just shook his head and turned away.

 

“I never should have introduced you to American T.V.  I’ve created a monster.”  Alya snagged his arm and pulled him back in her direction. “Anyway, don’t we have something to be doing?”

 

“Right. Time to be the best damn sidekicks ever.” Alya cracked her knuckles. “Let’s get to work.”

* * *

  
  
  


Marinette was actually kind of impressed.  Chat Noir had been carrying her and Nathanael across the rooftops of Paris for almost a minute now, and the red-headed artist hadn’t screamed once. This was getting seriously old, and the Akuma wasn’t getting any more defeated. She grabbed the nearest  available part of Adrien’s costume and tugged, forcing him to skid to a stop.

 

“Don’t you think you should get back to the Akuma?” She asked shakily. Marinette didn’t expect the free running to be that much worse as a passenger. Something about not being in control made it way harder to stomach.

 

Chat set them both down, and as he did Nathanael collapsed, whimpering quietly. Then he barfed over the building’s edge. Her heart went out to the poor kid. It must be rough flying over buildings like that for a non-miraculous wielder.  A second later Adrien nudged him with the tip of a black boot.

 

“Yeah, uh.. I’m pretty sure he just fainted..” He clicked his tongue. “Well uh.. I’ll be back for you guys later, okay? Stay safe, princess” and without so much as a ‘by your leave’ He was off again in the direction of the screams.  On the plus side, it looked like her partner was right. Nathanael was out like a light. Marinette dusted herself off, and slipped in the rooftop door.  The second the door clicked behind her, she was calling for Tikki to transform her.

 

* * *

  
  


As he approached the attack zone, Chat noticed something strange.  The rooftops in this part of Paris were more familiar to him than the halls of his own house, but he didn’t recognize any of them. They looked… antiquated. Out of place.   Soon enough he figured out why.

 

          Standing on a thatched roof in the middle of the district was a man wearing a giant clock. Not in the Flava Flav sense, but as a set of armor with a clock face as a chest piece, gears for joints and a huge pair of clock hands as weapons.

 

“I AM CLOCKWORK!!” The Akuma screamed, pointing at a box truck with his weapons. A stream of sickly white energy shot out and struck the vehicle, warping it into a horse and carriage. A brief glance at the surrounding block showed more anomalies. The buildings were from various eras, from modern to Victorian to mud huts.  People were clothed in garb from even more disparate time periods, and some of the people themselves seemed  like they didn’t belong here.  Chat cursed to himself. Time Akumas were always the worst.

 

He leapt onto a roof across the street from the steampunk-ish creature and drew his  staff.

 

“HEY, GEARHEAD!” The Akuma looked up and grinned, and Chat couldn’t help but wince. The teeth in the man’s mouth had been replaced with gear teeth, making his insult disturbingly apt.

 

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the petite chaton”  The creature chuckled, and his laugh sounded like metal grinding together.  “I’ve got verrrry special instructions to deal with you.”

 

“Is that so? Was it to let me clean your clock?” Chat shot back, casually twirling his  baton before extending it and sweeping it towards the monster.

 

“Oh no, I’m afraid your time is up, Chat Noir. Hawk Moth has bade me to get you out of the way while I deal with your Boss.  Then, there will be no one left to stop me from taking your ring and conquering ALL OF TIME”   He began to charge up his clock-hand claives.  Chat sprung into motion,  running, jumping, ducking and serpentining as hard as he could while the  blasts narrowly missed him.    Out of the corner of his eye, Chat caught  a flash of red. Finally his lady had arrived!

 

Unfortunately, in his distraction, Chat failed to calculate for the fact that the roofscape had changed, and when he touched down next he fell through a thatched roof and found himself stuck.

 

“Chat!!”   Ladybug screamed, and sprinted as hard as she could towards her partner.  Clockface held both Claives in the air and charged them until they glowed.

 

“NO! STAY BACK!”  He screamed at her. It didn’t matter. She wasn’t going to get close in time. Both beams shot at him, and the second they made contact everything went bendy.

* * *

  


All he could see was blurry white crap flying past his face.

 

Luckily, He could still feel Plagg’s presence in his mind.

  


_Adrien.._

 

_Plagg, what the fuck is going on?_

 

_He flung us back it time, feels like. You cannot use Cataclysm until we get back. If you detransform you’ll be stranded until the Akuma decides to bring you back._

 

_Wait, you mean you can get us back?_

 

_Of course, kid. You think  this is my first Time Rodeo?  Stick with me and  DON’T use Cataclysm. You’ll be just fine._

  
  


The blurry spell broke, and Chat found himself sitting in a volcanic black wasteland under a boiling smog filled sky.   The second his black boots hit the glassy rock, every instinct in Chat’s head began screaming at him to leave.  In the distance, flying shapes flitted in and out of the murky clouds, screaming in a tone far too high pitched for human ears to hear.  Something buried deep in his brain recognized these creatures as something out of Humanity’s oldest nightmares, and urged the boy to start sprinting until he was back in Paris.

 

But there was nowhere TO go. He hadn’t moved at all, he’d just gone back in time.

 

* * *

 

Back in 2016, Ladybug was bestowing a vicious beating onto a small metal man shaped like a clock. She’d wrapped her yoyo around his arm, and was using it to reel the pathetic little man into her punches.

 

“What the HELL did you do to my Chat?!” the red and black heroine screamed.

 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” The bastard chuckled through bent and broken teeth. He touched the yoyo next time he was hit and it aged several centuries in the space of a second. The cord snapped, releasing him.  The metal man immediately snatched up his weapons and charged Ladybug, who was left weaponless.

 

* * *

  
  


_Adrien, remember what I said about not using Cataclysm?_

 

_Yeah?_

 

_Fuck that. You’re going to need it soon. Get ready._

 

_...Why, won’t that get me stuck?_

 

_Stuck is better that dead. DUCK!_

 

Chat threw himself forward, barely missing the huge black Claw that decimated the rocky outcropping he’d landed on.  His glowing green eyes flicked upward.  Towering over him, jet black against the boiling sky was a huge demonic proto-cat-thing. Long undulating whiskers framed a blood-red mouth, and smoky, ill-defined limbs of black flame tipped with wicked claws held up a body like a void.  And it looked Hungry.

 

_PLAGG WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!?_

 

Plagg was silent for a long moment.

 

_Me.  That’s me._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the huge wait. Enjoy.
> 
> next gap won't be anywhere near as long


	20. The Land Before Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat Noir gets a glimpse into the Land Before Time. The actual thing, not the movie.
> 
> Ladybug is actually kind of in trouble without her Chat

 

_ “What the FUCK did you just do?”  _  a deep voice reverberated through Clockwork’s mind.

 

“Relax, Lord Hawkmoth. The epoch i sent the boy to is technically habitable… at least for miraculous wielders. He’ll survive the experience, and I can recall him as soon as I have the girl’s miraculous for you!”  The stout, brass colored man chuckled through bent and broken gear teeth.

 

“ _ Yes, and you’re doing such a stellar job of that. Look at you. You are yet another failure.”   _ Clockwork couldn’t fault his master for the lack of faith. It certainly wouldn’t look like he was winning, to an outsider. But his powers went far beyond that of a normal Time Akuma. _ “Ladybug Has beaten all of the sense out of you already, hasn’t she?” _

 

“My lord, she is already paying for every punch. Observe!” He peered out from his alcove, and to his delight, the gambit had worked.   Ladybug’s hair was already fading to grey, and wrinkles were forming on her face. “Every punch is a year, Hawkmoth. Once her joints are to rheumy and frozen to move, i will simply stroll up and slip her earrings off.” 

 

_ “... Very clever, Clockwork. You may be the first Akuma to ever disable both heros like this! _ ” Of course, his good grace was short lived  _ “What are you waiting for? Go, finish her _ !”

 

Clockwork inhaled deeply, forcing some of the dents in the bronze breastplate to pop out.  “Yes, Hawkmoth.”

  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  


Tikki was speaking urgently in her head, but Marinette was too busy trying to fix the ringing in her ears, or get rid of the sudden fact that beneath the suit her body was on fire. Clockwork never laid a finger on her, what the hell was wrong??

 

_ Marinette, You need to run! Please? _

 

“Tikki what the hell is he doing to me?” 

 

_ Every time he touches you, or you touch him, he ages you! Your body is already almost fifty! You can’t keep letting him touch you!   _ She blanched. Was…  **_was she having hot flashes?_ **

 

Before either of them could say another word, Clockwork popped out of the rooftop door, chuckling. He lunged to grab her, but she leapt up and away from his hands.

 

“Ahh, I see you’ve finally figured out my ability! Well done, but it’s not going to save you. All i need is a few more touches, and you’ll be geriatric. Bahahah!” Not for the first time, Marinette wished she had her partner’s weapon. Chat’s baton would have been so useful for keeping the little time creep from getting handsy with her. As it was, her gymnastic abilities were being taxed to their limit, ducking, dipping, diving, and dodging his glowing hands.   Finally, she decided it would be best to leave the roof until she could puzzle out how to end the fight.  

 

She flung her YoYo off to the Eiffel Tower, and zipped into the air. Unfortunately, just as she flew off, Clockwork’s hand caught her ankle.  The wind whipping past her body did little to kill the waves of heat it was generating, and when she landed a sharp pain shot up through her joints.

 

“Tikki we need to finish this fight NOW. Where the hell did he send Chat?!”

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


The massive black cat chuckled, and Chat felt his poisonous green eyes flit across his suit.

 

“What manner of creature are you, little cat? You smell like one of mine, but I’d remember creating something so… amusing?”  It paced around the ledge of the cliff it perched on, and he was forced to turn his body to follow the colossal beast’s movements.

 

“I’m…  You definitely didn’t create me, if that helps.” He said, voice cracking slightly. The beast chuckled again.

 

So where did..” It sniffed the wind. “Ahhhh  I see. You aren’t from here. Or Now, that is to say. You are here because of the Butterfly’s power.”  All of a sudden the creature’s bearing turned menacing  “Did they send you back to sabotage me, little one?”

 

“S-sabotage? No, i was sent here by accident, I have no idea what you mean!” Chat stuttered. He tried to steady himself, but something about the monster triggered his primal need to flee.

 

_ He’s not going to believe you. We don’t have much time, just run. _ His kwami whispered in his mind.

 

“Surely, you don’t think I’m just going to buy that, little one? If Tikki sent you here thinking your scent was going to confuse me she was very wrong.”  The Plagg thing studied his claws, bemusedly. 

 

“Honestly… Plagg, I swear, i have no idea what you mean. The… Clockwork sent me here.” That seemed to amuse the great beast.

 

“Oh, so you know my name, little worm?” He chuckled. “You claim to not know, and yet the stink of Nooroo’s magic clings to you almost as strongly as my own. Did he think cloaking you in my likeness would pass as camouflage?”  Plagg- The great beastly one, not the kwami in his head- let his eyes wander, tracing the path of one of the massive raven-like figures in the sky above. “Even if you don’t know him by that name, he is undoubtedly involved.”

 

“Nooroo’s magi-  Do you mean Hawkmoth’s Kwami?”

 

“PAH! Kwami. What a filthy term. Quantic Gods?” The sound of Plagg’s voice made Adrien’s hair bristle “Do they truly seem like gods to you? Nooroo had potential, infinite potential.” He chuckled, and Chat flinched. His mood seemed to change on a dime. “He was literally  _ made  _ of potential. Yet he’s shackled himself to Tikki and her path of Order and Good! A GOD is free to do as they please. I am free to do as I please. I will not bend to Tikki and her circle.” Aaaand they were back to anger “I am Plagg! I AM DESTRUCTION! I AM THE BUBBLING DARK THAT WILL CONSUME THIS WORLD AT IT’S END”

 

“And now they have sent you” Plagg’s voice went deadly quiet. “They have already stolen my Trixx, my sweet little Liar. and with you they seek to trick me? To bind me??”

 

“Look-” Before he could even respond, it’s head snapped up and the blood red mouth snapped open. It began coughing, like it was trying to pass up a hairball, and a moment later it spit forth the most horrifying sight. The same bubbling, dark energy that Adrien had summoned to his fingertips every day, times a thousand. It was MASSIVE. Without warning he spit it at Chat

 

“CATACLYSM!!”  Chat’s hands flew up to catch it in the nick of time, but he was still thrown backwards. He pressed his boots into the jagged rocks, trying to fight against the force of the dark projectile. He could feel his muscles straining, and every tendon and ligament in his arms felt like they were about to snap, but the wasn’t being pushed back anymore. He could feel Plagg trying to speak in the back of his mind but Chat already knew what to do.

 

“And one, and two, annnnd. ALLEZ OOP!”  He lobbed it back. The enormous cataclysm flew true, slamming into the eldritch cat’s muzzle. It shrieked and Chat had to clap his smoking gloves over his ears to block the earth shattering noise.

 

“AAARRRGGHH, you foul little-” Plagg launched himself at Adrien, half blind with pain and rage. The black suited teen rolled away, and tumbled into a narrow crevasse in the obsidian glass. Plagg reached after him, bit his paws were too large to fit. The great black demon settled for glaring through the jagged opening after him, and Chat got to see his work up close, thrown into sharp relief by Plagg’s glowing eyes. The cataclysmic rot had melted the flesh on his enormous face, exposing the skull underneath like a scene from a nightmare.

 

“PLAGG! PLAGGGG” a great squawking voice cried from the sky. Furiously, Plagg wheeled about, abandoning their game of cat and mouse for the moment

 

“WHAT SQUUAL YOU INSUFFERABLE FEATHERED NOBODY!?”

 

“My.. My lord- What on black earth happened to your face?” Adrien peeked his head out from his hole, and saw a twisted sort of.. Raveny Vulture thing? Speaking to Plagg. The huge corvid had mottled black and grey feathers, and a crooked beak. Its form seemed to blur at the edges. It didn’t flicker or smoke like Plagg, rather it seemed like a poorly made digital projection, flitting in and out of being  and blurring at the edges.

 

“Never mind my face, bird brain. What is so urgent?”

 

“Tikki and the Circle move in this direction.” The bird seemed as though it was trying to contain great mirth, now. “Perhaps this time, they’ll manage to bind you! Then Squual will rule the darkness! I’ve always said, death is much more powerful than destruction!!” Plagg lunged for the bird, but it just squawked indignantly and took to the wing. “So Long Lord Plagg! Hello Lord SQUUAL”

  
  


_ Adrien we have to go!! _

 

**_No, just a few more seconds, i need to see this!_ ** His Plagg went silent again

  
  


Not a second later, a shining red figure landed in front of Plagg. It was like beetle crossed with a Praying Mantis, and covered in ladybug spots. It should have been terrifying, but it filled Chat with a sense of joy.

  
  
  


“Tikki, My better half. What a surprise!” Plagg drawled, licking a paw and dragging it across his wounded face

 

“Plagg, you’ve seen better days.”  The red figure’s voice was beautiful and regal, a sharp contrast to  the grating steel in Plagg’s. It seemed to act like a balm to Adrien’s poor tormented ear drums.

 

“I’m still more than a match for you, and you know it.” Plagg grinned horribly

 

“I’ve never claimed to be a match for you in a fight. But, as you know, I am no longer alone.”  An enormous butterfly landed next to her, and it quailed under Plagg’s furious gaze. A fox with a shining silver collar came up on Tikki’s other side.

 

“Yes, i see you’ve brought our traitorous son, and my poor Trixx. Let me guess, the Tortoise and the Hare are here as well? And Trixx’s other halfl?”  One by one, as he named them, they emerged from the swirling smoke. A turtle with an island on it’s back, A vast rabbit that moved so fast it seemed to have teleported there, and a gorgeous blue phoenix.  Last, a huge black and yellow Hornet alighted on the ground, completing the circle that surrounded him.

 

“Wassp, even you??” Plagg bit out, disgustedly. 

 

“I-I’m sorry father, but it is for the best. No flowers can grow if you are allowed to go unchecked. No life can arise.” 

 

“Very well. It seems only my Trixx is loyal to the end then?”  With his last word, the shining collar on the fox’s neck dissolved into orange smoke.

 

“I’m afraid that was just one of my tricks, Plagg” The fox grinned “I’m no more a prisoner than Duusu. We’re all agreed, you need to come into the light. And we’ll drag you there, kicking and screaming if we must.”

 

“Fine then. Come, and best me if you can.” Plagg extended his claws. “But don’t expect me to come easy.” The Hare moved first, blindingly fast, but Plagg was expecting it. The last thing Adrien saw before his Miraculous dragged him into the time stream was the rabbit's neck, broken in Plagg's jaws.

  
  


* * *

  
  


_ If we stayed there we would have died. That battle leveled mountains and sank continents.   _ Chat had no response. He was numb.  _ You wasted to much time there. We don’t have the charge to make it all the way back. We need to find a Grand Master. _

 

Adrien felt the whole of centuries fly by, and by the time Plagg dumped them unceremoniously back into the time stream, his ring was beeping frantically. He could barely hold himself up. His hands were searing with pain and every muscle in his arms was screaming. He looked up, desperate to see where or when he was, but the last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was a figure in green robes. Falling to his knees, Chat blacked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know what you think about my own Miraculous Lore!!


	21. The Other GrandMaster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat gets a helping hand, and makes another jump.
> 
> Nino and Alya hit the jackpot, and get lucky
> 
> Ladybug on the other hand, is getting desperate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry. I can't get into my reasons for taking so long to update this, but I haven't abandoned the story. with out further ado, here is the next chapter. More is coming, and soon

Alya was standing stock still, as Nino ran after her frantically, completely out of breath.

 

“Oh..My...God. Babe, you gotta quit doing that. I’m.. not as in shape as you are.” Normally that was her cue to poke him in the (minimal) chub he’d collected over that last couple years. But no poke came.  “Uh, babe?”  Nino felt a small freezing hand cup his cheek, and yank his face upwards.

 

“That window”

 

“Uh, yeah?” Nino was never one for architecture, but noticed it before. Some kind of observatory, he guessed? he’d always liked it, pity it was always.. “Wait, it’s open?”

 

“Oh shit, you’re right. I didn’t even see that.”  Nino glanced over at the auburn reporter.

 

“If  _ that _ wasn’t what you noticed, then what  _ was? _ ”

 

“Doesn’t that… kinda look like a Butterfly to you” Nino’s mouth dropped open.

 

“Dude, no fucking way! Hawk-” he lowered his voice to a whisper. “ _ Hawkmoth would not have a super obvious fucking observatory lair in the middle of the city!”   _

 

“Well, it’s like you said, I never noticed it was a butterfly design before now, because it was always closed. Maybe It’s only  _ open during akuma attacks! _ ” she took a deep breath. “We’re never around here during attacks! I know for sure you only come to this neighborhood for DJ gigs, and I only come down this street on my way to work!”

 

“Still!” Nino gestured back violently, aware that Alya was caught in one of her Modes. “Why would the very secretive, powerful supervillain have a big old fuckin  _ window _ in the  _ middle _ of the ninth arrondissement?!  Why not like, an old abandoned church in a back alley or fuckin something?”

 

“This is the guy who designs flashy, elaborate costumes for every akuma? Who  _ made an announcement from the Eiffel Tower to introduce himself?! _ ” She gestured up at the window. “Dude quite obviously has a flair for the dramatic, a taste for grandeur! He’s not the sneaky subtle sort of villain.” Nino didn’t respond, but grabbed her wrist and started walking away. “Nino, what the hell-”

 

“If you’re right- IF.” he cut her off as she went to interrupt. “Don’t you think it would be a bad idea to stand around staring and pointing at it?!”

 

“Uh… fair.”

 

“So what do we do?” Nino asked, once he’d dragged her far enough away.

 

“We tell Adrien, and set up some kind of system for checking that window during attacks?” Alya brushed her hair out of her face. “Then we trace the ownership of the building?”

 

Nino shrugged. “Fair enough. We have our lead. Now let’s get across town, I know you’re dying to get some footage. Maybe we can make it back before the end of the fight”

 

“Aww, baby” She smiled sweetly. “Thank you, I know how much you hate running into Akuma Zones. But-” all of a sudden she looked troubled. “Actually-  I was thinking maybe I’d give this one a miss. I’ve been a bit obsessive. Instead maybe we could-” she leaned in and whispered in his ear, and Nino shivered. “And you know, my sibs are at a sleepover, and Mom’s already at woo-oork”  And They were off running again.

 

* * *

  
  
  


Everything ached, but Marinette wouldn’t slow down, COULDN’T slow down.  This Akuma was far too tough, and  every time she stopped she gained five years she couldn’t afford. Stupid clocky-looking bastard.   She mentally reminded herself to book her mother a Spa Weekend or something, because menopause was hell.

 

It was lucky that Tiki could regenerate her Yo-Yo after it was destroyed, or she’d be a geezer right now. She wrapped it around a pole, and flung herself five blocks forward. Tiki said that miraculous wielders had ways of bringing themselves back to their proper timeline, so she just had to wait for her Chat to get back. Wait just a little longer, and hope everything went okay on his end.

* * *

  
  
  
  


Adrien was completely disoriented.  He’d tried opening his  eyes a couple times, but he was still pretty sure  it wasn’t helping.  He felt a flicker of movement around his neck, and he flinched

 

“W-who-”

 

“It’s me, kid.”

 

“ I... thought you’d disappear?” He tried opening his eyes to look at the black cat, but everything went spinny again, and he clamped them shut.

“Yeah, well, we got lucky.” Plagg snickered to himself at the irony.  _ Lucky _ .  

 

“C’mon, Plagg. You and I don’t get lucky. Take some credit, huh?” Adrien reached out blindly and found the kwami’s head, scratching behind his ears with a single finger. “We’re not lucky, we’re  _ good.” _

 

“Tch. Whatever you say, kid.” He leaned into the boy’s touch anyway. “Old man Bolin will be back in a minute, how’s your Wenyan?”

 

“...um, Father only had me learn Mandarin for the company, soooo.. Not great? But i’ll see what I can do.”

 

“Ughhhhhh. Fine, I’ll translate for you. But you owe me so much cheese when we get home.”

 

“Deal” Adrien smiled. 

  
  
  


* * *

  
  


_ “You are one of the chosen” _ ” the old man -Master Bolin- spoke

 

“I-I am” Adrien spoke. He pushed himself off of the thin mattress, trying to stand, but the old man pressed a hand to his shoulder. 

 

“ _ Do not rise. You are are weakened.”  _ his face was unfamiliar, but somehow, Adrien found it familiar.

 

“I need to get back. Ladybug needs me”

 

_ “You are in the time stream. Resting for a moment here will not change when you return, it will happen precisely when it is meant to.” _ Adrien nodded hesitantly, then laid back down. 

 

“Do you have any-”   Adrien paused for a moment, then whispered to  his kwami “Plagg, do they even has cheese in Ancient China??” 

 

“I got this”  Plagg flew in front of the old man and spoke in rapidfire chinese. The old man nodded, and reached into a large leather satchel next to the bed, withdrawing a moldy piece of fungus. Before the Grandmaster could even extend it, Plagg flashed forwards and swallowed it.  Plagg froze for a second, and began a tiny dry heave. A moment later he was full on hacking, trying to scrape the last bits of it off his tongue with his tiny paws.

 

“Dear lord, that is so much worse than I remember it. We have got to get back to my cheese.” Behind him Bolin began to laugh, and soon it was infectious. Adrien found himself swept along, chuckling at the exaggerated grimace on his kwami’s face. Once the laughs drained from his body.. He actually felt better. This time when Adrien rose, Bolin made no attempt to stop him.  

 

“ _ Young one, you must remember. You are still too far back. That last jump was  uncountable aeons, and so it’s effect was much worse than the next one, but you must be more cautious. If your transformation flees you, you are stranded.”   _ He patted him on the shoulder.  “ _ Now, call Plagg and go forth. I’m sure you will make it back to her.”   _ Adrien nodded, and turned to Plagg.

 

“Plagg, CLAWS OUT!”  and with a flash he was gone.

 

Out from behind a paper screen on the other side of the screen came a dark haired boy wearing a silver ring. He looked around to make sure Adrien had gone, and opened his robe to look at his Kwami. “ _ Plagg, why are you never that nice to me?!” _

 

_ “Oh piss off, kid.” _

 

* * *

  
  


This time, when Chat dropped back into time, he was home. He landed lightly and elegantly, atop the same building he’d been fighting on when he left, and.. It was night?”

 

_ Plagg, what… did we miss it? Are we early or late?! _

 

_ Kid, kid, we still got time to go, this is about-  _ Before Plaggf could finish the thought, Chat caught sight of a familiar purple and silver figure, which flickered into existence on the rooftop in front of him.

 

“So, who the hell are-” Before he could even consider using restraint, Chat’s body surged forward, slamming the silhouette against a chimney stack. In a contest between Chat Noir’s full strength and the chimney’s structural integrity, the bricks lost, which meant the two of them actually passed through it, and pitched backwards onto the next roof. The landing was rough for Chat, which meant it must’ve been doubly bad for the other boy. Not that he cared. Chat’s lips peeled back and snarled.

  
“Hawkmoth.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so how about that, huh? more soon, and as always, you know the drill

**Author's Note:**

> comment, critique, let me know what you think


End file.
